


Practical Magic

by justyrae



Series: witch fic [1]
Category: BBC Radio 1 RPF, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, Alternate Universe - Wizards, F/F, Flirting, Genderswap, Girls Kissing, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-10
Updated: 2018-10-17
Packaged: 2019-07-28 22:57:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 41,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16251509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justyrae/pseuds/justyrae
Summary: It's in that moment that Louis knows what she needs to do. She needs to prove to Nick that she knows exactly what she's getting herself into. Nick needs to see all the research she's already done, and the letters from Professor McGonagall herself.Maybe, she thinks,just maybe, with Nick's seal of approval, I can finally do this.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> THIS IS A YEAR AND A HALF IN THE MAKING BUT IT'S FINALLY HERE: WITCH FIC.
> 
> i have approximately a thousand people to thank but i'll try to keep it short and sweet:
> 
> first, thank you to **akai-coat** and **dearmrsawyer** for always being around to listen to me whine about how frustrating it is to write multiple fics in the same 'verse. someday i'll learn but until then at least i've got you two to help  <3
> 
> second, thank you to **tomlinsong** for the BEAUTIFUL edit and CONSTANT SUPPORT throughout this process. you're the best!
> 
> third, thank you to **irishsunshine-n-l-l-h** for running this great fest and putting up with me whining every gd day about not finishing this fic in time for my posting day.
> 
> and last but not least, thank you to EVERYONE ELSE for liking/reblogging the original witch fic posts, for sending me messages asking for more in this universe, and for sending me good vibes while i was trudging away writing this. i love you all so much!
> 
> ALSO, if you'd like a lovely soundtrack to listen to while you read the fic, please [check out this masterpiece](https://open.spotify.com/user/kciscasey/playlist/0Mtx86y9ymp3JsnESm2tIM?si=jkPIc-1XRE28nkb66ALyCA) curated by **tomlinsong**.

Louis wakes up with a crick in her neck and her cheek stuck to a page in the book she'd fallen asleep reading the night before. The sun is shining in through the gap between her window curtains, leaving a strip of light directly across her face. She blinks several times, grimacing with a groan as she pulls her face away from the page and frowns down at _Advanced Potion Making_. Her face is tacky where it was pressed against the paper and Louis wipes her cheek with the sleeve of her sweater, groaning again as she smacks her lips and yawns.

She carefully gathers up the pieces of parchment strewn across her bed and folds them all in half, sticking them in the middle of _A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration_ which was underneath her old Potions textbook. Tucking both of them in the crook of her arm, she climbs off her bed and sets them on her desk before she sits down and rolls out a new piece of parchment.

_Professor McGonagall,_

_I know you've asked me to stop calling you Professor, but old habits die hard. Thank you for your last letter, I really do appreciate you taking the time to write me back._

_Your list of applicable texts is more helpful than I could've hoped for. There's only so much research I can do in a small town like Rosemoor before people start asking questions. Would it be alright to write you again once I've obtained the books, in case I need further help?_

_I do wish I'd been able to accept your offer while I was still at Hogwarts, but you know how mums can be._

_Thank you again. I really, really appreciate it._

_Louis Tomlinson_

Louis rolls up the parchment as she gets up from her desk, tucking it into the top drawer for safe keeping. She makes a mental note to go to the Owl Post Office in town later today to send off her letter to Professor McGonagall, and just as she closers the drawer in her desk, she realizes something.

She strains her ears for a moment, listening for signs of life in the house. It's oddly quiet. She twists around to check the time on the clock sitting on her nightstand and mutters a curse under her breath. It's almost nine in the morning, which means the lack of noise in the house probably equals trouble.

Louis rushes downstairs without even bothering to change her clothes, finding the living room completely empty. She races through the dining room and into the kitchen, where she finds her sister Lottie sitting at the kitchen table with three purple candles lit around her Divination textbook and her eyes closed.

"What did Mum say about lighting candles in the house while she's out?" she asks in her best, most authoritative big sister tone.

Lottie cracks one eye open to look at Louis, a snicker slipping out as she closes it again.

"Mum said it was fine."

"Lottie."

"Fall asleep on a book again?" Lottie asks, changing the subject as she continues to keep her eyes closed. Louis presses her hand to her cheek and Lottie snickers again.

"At least I've got N.E.W.T.s in _practical_ subjects," Louis retorts, glaring at her sister even though Lottie can't even see it.

"And what are you doing with those N.E.W.T.s?" Lottie replies, remaining calm and collected.

Louis glares harder, and then bends down and blows out all three of Lottie's candles at once for revenge.

"Hey!" Lottie cries.

"What?" Louis asks, smirking. "Didn't see that coming?"

Lottie groans angrily as she gathers up her book and candles, hissing a little as the hot wax drips onto her fingers. She mutters under her breath as Louis crosses the kitchen floor to grab an apple, feeling rather proud of herself for keeping her sister in line.

"That fire wasn't even my fault!" Lottie snaps as she leaves the kitchen, stomping loudly up the stairs.

Louis takes a large bite out of her apple and rolls her eyes, tapping her finger against her chin as she wonders where the rest of her sisters have gotten to. She turns around and goes up on tiptoe to look out the window behind the kitchen sink, just barely able to see out into the garden through the twisting vines that cover much of the house.

She spots her mum at the far end of the garden and rocks back on her heels. She glances back at the door through which Lottie exited minutes earlier and spares a thought to wonder whether she'd actually gotten permission from their mum. Louis winces a little but shrugs it off quickly enough, taking another large bite from her apple as she walks to the back door and heads outside.

The stones of the garden walkway are cool under her bare feet, still a bit wet with morning dew. She shivers as she hops from one to the other in an effort to get to the ones in the sun as quickly as possible. She's about halfway to her mum when another head pops up in the middle of the lettuce patch and Louis nearly falls on her face as she stumbles out of fright.

"Don't do that!" Louis scolds as Fizzy nearly topples over in her fit of laughter.

"Jumpy, are we?" Fizzy wipes at her eyes. "What're you doing out here, anyway?"

"Looking for Mum," Louis replies. "Lottie was burning candles again."

"Mum said she could," Fizzy says as she gets to her feet, brushing the dirt off of her knees.

"Did she?" Louis winces again. "Shit."

"Ooh, what'd you do now?" Fizzy grins. "Is Lottie going to hex you?"

"No, Lottie is not going to _hex_ me," Louis says with a huff. "She wouldn't dare risk getting expelled from Hogwarts. Plus, Mum would be furious, you know that."

"Yeah, yeah." Fizzy rolls her eyes and drops back down to her knees, turning her attention back to the lettuce patch and losing all interest in Louis.

Louis pulls a face at her sister's back and then continues down the path until she reaches her mum at the back of the garden, picking herbs. She looks up at Louis with a smile as she approaches, and Louis smiles back.

"Morning, Lou."

"Morning," she replies as she passes by her mum and makes herself comfortable underneath a nearby tree. She leans back against the trunk and eats her apple, watching her mum harvest herbs with the utmost care.

"The rosemary is blooming nicely," Jay says, looking at Louis over her shoulder as she takes off her gloves.

"That's good," Louis says, her mouth full. She swallows quickly when her mum gives her an unimpressed look and she puts on a bright smile. "Where are the twins?"

"Down by the shore, hopefully getting what I asked them to," Jay replies as she gets to her feet, picking up her basket as she does so. "If they're going to spend all day there anyway, they may as well be useful while they're down there."

"Fat chance," Louis says as she gets to her feet and starts following her mum back towards the house. Fizzy pulls a face at Louis, but only after their mum's already passed by. Louis throws her apple core at her.

"Oh, will you go into town, later?" Jay asks, turning around before she reaches for the handle to the back door. "Bernard called, our order's in."

"Yeah," Louis says, quickly turning away from Fizzy and jogging to catch up. The letter tucked away in her desk upstairs springs to mind. At least now she won't have to make up some other reason to leave the house. "When d'you want me to go?"

"Maybe after you've changed," Jay says as she looks Louis up and down and gives her a smile. "Did you fall asleep reading again?"

Louis flushes. "Maybe."

Jay hums as she steps through the door and back into the kitchen, glancing around for a moment as Louis follows her inside.

"I thought Lottie would be in here with her candles."

Louis winces for the third time that morning. "I… might have done something."

Jay sighs. "Oh, Louis."

*

By the time Louis gets out of the house a few hours later, with her letter tucked away safely in her pocket, she's definitely glad to be doing so. She apologized to Lottie for blowing out her candles, but she could tell that Lottie wasn't really ready to forgive her just yet.

It figured that when Louis actually tried to step up and be a good role model and follow the rules it would blow up in her face. In retrospect, perhaps she should've been a bit nicer to Lottie. It'd been over a month since the incident with the fire in the dining room, and they still hadn't actually figured out what had happened or who'd done it. Lottie swore up and down that she had nothing to do with it, but Louis still wasn't sure if she believed her.

Perhaps a bit of time away from her sister was a good idea.

It was a bit of a trek, getting from their house to town, but Louis didn't mind. She preferred walking to Apparating, given that she'd never really gotten over the sick feeling that sometimes accompanies Apparition. Even though her sisters thought she was mad and were always going on about how they were going to Apparate _everywhere_ once they were able to, Louis didn't care. Some things, she thought, were better without magic. 

For instance, she liked the seclusion that their house afforded them, even if it wasn't particularly necessary in a town full of fellow wizarding families. If they lived in a Muggle town, their house would need a hundred different charms and spells to keep their wizardry private. But here they could just _be_.

Louis had spent her whole life in this town and it was small enough that she knew just about everyone, and they all knew her. When it came time for her to go to Hogwarts, she wasn't nearly as nervous about it because she already knew multiple other children around her age and older that would be going there as well. If anything, it helped her make her home at Hogwarts just as easily as her mother had made their home in the town.

Louis' mum was known throughout the town as a healer, and considering the closest wizarding hospital was St. Mungo's all the way in London, it was far easier to just trek up the hill to the Tomlinson house for cures for minor illnesses. It set a rather high standard for Louis and her younger sisters, having a mum who was so talented. Louis remembers all too well how, when she'd gotten her letter from Hogwarts, some townsfolk started to ask her if she was going to follow in her mum's footsteps and become a healer herself. It was a lot of pressure to put on an eleven-year-old.

While Jay's strengths lay in the magic of healing, Louis had a predilection for Transfiguration. She'd done alright in Potions, she'd even been accepted into the N.E.W.T. level class by some miracle, but she'd never had the intent of using it to become a Healer.

When she was at Hogwarts, Louis became close with Professor McGonagall despite not being in the Gryffindor house. After showing a natural talent for Transfiguration in her first year, Professor McGonagall had sort of taken Louis under her wing (or paw, so to speak), and helped her discover how gifted she really was.

But, apart from taking over Professor McGonagall's post at Hogwarts, Louis hadn't known what her talents could translate into as far as a wizarding career. So, three years later, she still has no idea what she's doing.

Unlike Louis, both Lottie's and Fizzy's talents derive from what one might call the more traditional side of witchcraft: divination and herbology, respectively. Lottie can neither read minds nor correctly predict the future, but it certainly doesn't stop her from trying. And as far as Fizzy is concerned, she'd probably sleep in the garden if their mum would let her.

As for the twins, Daisy and Phoebe, their talents have yet to reveal themselves. But, according to Jay, they're growing ever closer to the age at which most young witches learn where their talents truly lie. Louis just hopes it's nothing too destructive or intrusive, to be quite honest. The twins are rambunctious enough as it is without bringing magic into the mix.

She smiles widely at the several townsfolk she passes on her way to the center of town. They all smile in return, and a few even greet her by name. The first stop on her agenda is the Owl Post Office so she can send off her letter to Professor McGonagall and it stops burning a hole in her pocket.

Lucky for her, the wizard who runs the Owl Post Office isn't necessary to complete a transaction. He's mostly there to clean up after the owls, which is a rather disgusting job in Louis' opinion. But then again, without him, the whole place would be absolutely covered in owl dung and smell even worse than it already does.

She picks a tawny barn owl and deposits a few Knuts into the small bag at its feet before she ties her letter to its leg. The owl hoots once before it takes off, flying out of the opening in the roof. Louis leaves the shop as quick as she can, taking a deep breath of fresh air the moment she's through the doors.

Her next and last stop is to the market a few doors down, and she's looking far more forward to this than she was the Owl Post Office.

Louis strides into the shop and immediately heads for the counter at the back, happy to see that there's no one else waiting in line so she can waltz right up. She takes her wand out of her pocket and points it at the bell hanging above the counter, charming it to ring over and over even though it's entirely unnecessary. Judging by the look on Harry's face as he turns around, he knew it was her before the bell even stopped.

"Harold!" she says with a wide, toothy grin. "How's my favorite shop boy?"

"Tired," he replies with a soft sigh. "And you banging on that bell doesn't help."

"But you know I love to ring the bell," she says. He rolls his eyes as she juts out her bottom lip in an exaggerated pout, twirling her wand between her fingers. "It's one of my simple pleasures in life."

"Yeah, yeah." Even when Harry tries to sound exasperated with her, he can't manage it well enough to be convincing. Louis knows she's just too charming for anyone to stay mad at her for too long (her sisters notwithstanding, of course).

It also helps that they've been friends since they were tiny, and even back then Harry couldn't stay mad at her for very long. Even being sorted into separate houses at Hogwarts wasn't going to ruin their friendship. (Although it nearly came to blows when Harry tried to talk Louis into taking Muggle Studies with him. That was a terrible idea that resulted in a fight where they didn't speak for three whole days.)

"Louis!"

Louis turns at the sound of her name to see the shop owner, Bernard, coming towards her with a warm smile nearly hidden under his moustache. She smiles in return, leaning back and resting her elbows on the counter behind her.

"Come for your order?"

"Yes!" she answers. " _Someone_ wasn't being very helpful." She nods her head towards Harry in an exaggerated manner, but the smile doesn't fade from Bernard's face so she knows he isn't taking her seriously.

"I'll be sure to reprimand him," Bernard says, playing into her joke as he walks past her and opens the door to the right of the counter. "Dock his pay, at the very least."

"Ought to give him twenty lashes too, so he really learns his lesson." Louis turns back around and flutters her eyelashes at Harry, who's glaring at her as he tries not to smile.

"Will you ever stop trying to get me sacked?" he asks with a huff.

"Probably," she replies. "Y'know, when it actually works."

"Then what'll you do? You'll have no one to flirt with but Bernard."

"Excuse me, Harold. I am not _flirting_ with you."

"Sure, you're not." Harry winks in the most ridiculous manner and Louis can't help but laugh.

"You're an idiot," she declares just as Bernard comes up next to Harry with a bag in his hand.

"Here we are," he says as he sets it down on the counter. "Shall I go through it?"

"Nah," Louis says as she reaches out for it. "I trust you. Besides, if anything's missing, I know where you live." She winks in an exaggerated manner as both Bernard and Harry laugh.

"Tell your mum I said hello, will you?" Bernard asks. Louis nods.

"I will. S'pose I'd better get going, before Mum sends one of the others to look for me." Louis rolls her eyes.

"Run along, Louis." Harry waves his hand at her and Louis swipes at it. "Some of us have work to do."

"Shut up, Harold. Bye, Bernard!"

Louis tucks the bag under her arm as she strides to the front of the store and through the doors, getting halfway through the town centre before she catches the edge of a conversation that piques her interest.

"No, I'm telling you, it's the truth!"

"It can't be, why would _that kind_ of witch come to our town?"

Louis had already slowed down to eavesdrop, but the tone of the woman's voice has her coming to a full stop. She carefully turns her head to the left to see a group of older women near the market, and not a single one of them have noticed that Louis is nearby. In an effort to not be conspicuous, Louis ducks behind a nearby tree and strains to listen to their conversation.

"I didn't say I knew _why_ ," one of the women is saying, "I'm just telling you what I've heard."

"Well, where'd you hear it from?" another woman demands. "Because I don't know if I trust your information, not after--"

"That was entirely different," the woman from before cuts in. "How was I to know that--"

"Now, please, don't start that again," a gentle voice interrupts and Louis peeks around the tree trunk to double-check that her ears aren't playing tricks on her. She thinks she knows that voice and as she spots its owner, she finds out she's right: it's Harry's mum, Anne. "Do you have any actual proof that she practices the Dark Arts?"

"Well, no," the first woman replies, sounding a little ashamed. "But I have it on good authority that--"

"I'm sure you do," Anne says smoothly, "but until we actually see it for ourselves, then we shouldn't speculate."

The other women all murmur in agreement and Louis turns away, leaning back against the tree trunk. _A witch who practices the Dark Arts?_ Louis shakes her head, telling herself it can't possibly be true. If anyone knew about a newcomer to their small town, her mum would, and she would've at least told Louis about it.

Louis takes a deep breath before she sets off, walking at a quick pace with the intent on getting home as soon as possible. She's not sure if her mum will know everything about this supposed new person, but surely she's got to know _something_.

*

Louis is in such a rush to get inside the house by the time she makes it back from town that she struggles to get the latch of the gate open. She fights with it for a good thirty seconds before she pulls out her wand and points it directly at the latch.

"Alohomora, you absolute piece of shit!" she shouts, kicking the fence open once the latch comes undone. She points her wand over her shoulder and charms it closed, the spell using far more force than necessary to slam it closed behind her. Louis curses angrily under her breath as she sprints towards the front door, thankfully having far less trouble opening it than she'd had with the gate.

"Mum?" she calls. "Mum!"

"Kitchen!" Jay calls back. Louis changes course, having been headed for the stairs, and runs into the kitchen where her mum and all four of her sisters are gathered.

Lottie's got another candle burning while Fizzy's at the sink next to their mum, and the only evidence of the twins' presence is their legs sticking out from under the table. Louis ignores all of them as she drops the bag she's brought back from town onto the tabletop, the force of it sending a shockwave across the top and nearly knocking Lottie's candle over.

"Lou!" she shrieks as she scrambles to grab it before it falls, glaring at Louis' back when she gets no reply.

"What's got you all worked up?" Jay asks, glancing at Louis while she and Fizzy continue washing the vegetables Fizzy had gathered from their garden.

"There's a rumor in town," Louis says all in a rush, "about a witch," Louis drops her voice to a softer tone, even though there's no way her sisters won't be able to hear her, "who practices _dark magic_!"

"Oh?" Jay asks, her tone showing only mind interest. She doesn't even turn her head.

"Oh??" Louis huffs. "Mum, did you know??"

"Of course I knew," Jay answers with a soft laugh. "And don't be silly, she's--"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Louis interrupts.

"Who is she?" Fizzy asks.

"Where's she coming from?" Lottie adds.

"Mum," Louis says loudly, the whine evident in her voice.

"Now, stop that." Jay huffs. "I was going to tell all of you when it was your time to know." She stares Louis down as she adds, "it's nothing to be worried about."

"But _Mum_ ," Louis starts.

"But Mum nothing," Jay says, cutting her off. "I don't know why you're all up in arms about this, Louis, you don't even know her."

"Exactly!" Louis cries. "What if she's going to come into town and mess everything up?"

"Who's messing things up?" Daisy asks as she pokes her head out from under the tablecloth. Phoebe appears a moment later with the same curious look on her face, and Jay turns to the both of them with a smile.

"No one, loves." She turns back to Louis. "She doesn't practice dark magic, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Who's been filling your head with these lies?"

"Nobody." Louis crosses her arms and huffs. "Just… y'know, heard about it in town."

"Oh, come now." Jay reaches out and pulls Louis against her, and Louis slumps a little. "What did I tell you about making mountains out of molehills?"

"That I should do it as often as possible?" Louis says dryly, and Jay pinches her.

"Cheeky," Jay replies as Louis frowns and rubs at the spot where she was pinched. "That mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble someday, you'll see."

Louis scowls and re-crosses her arms as she leans back against the counter while her mum turns back to the washing. She taps her foot impatiently for a few seconds and turns her attention away from her mum and towards the kitchen table. Phoebe and Daisy have once again disappeared under the tablecloth to do who knows what, while Lottie sits with her legs folded under herself and her eyes closed.

It takes all of five seconds for Louis to cross the room and quickly blow the candle out, taking off for the stairs at a run as Lottie screeches her name. Louis manages to get up the stairs and down the hall into her room without Lottie catching up. She slams her bedroom door behind her and presses her ear to the wood to listen for Lottie's footsteps, but she doesn't hear a thing.

Relieved and smugly pleased with herself, Louis crosses the floor to her bed and lays down. She turns her head towards her desk, her eyes immediately drawn to her Potions and Transfiguration textbooks stacked there.

She wonders if the owl's reached Professor McGonagall yet. She stares at the pages of her Transfiguration textbook, particularly at the spot where the parchment stuck between them expands the binding. Inside is a list of all the books she needs to do what she's been dreaming of since her sixth year at Hogwarts, and just _knowing_ it's within her reach burns wildly inside her chest.

Louis turns her head away from her desk and towards the window. She watches the clouds go by, the sky slowly changing from late afternoon sun to early dusk. Her thoughts wander to the gossip she'd overheard in town, and then to her mum's non-explanation. She can't help but feel frustrated by the fact that her mum really didn't tell her much of anything, but there's a small part of her that feels guilty over it.

She can't really be annoyed at her mum keeping secrets when Louis is doing the same thing. If her mum found out what she was trying to do, well… there's no telling what might happen.

Louis sits up, pulling her knees up to her chest. She feels ridiculous for having blown everything out of proportion downstairs all over a silly rumor. She'd heard hundreds of rumors at Hogwarts and never let a single one affect her like this.

Still. Nobody mentions dark magic anymore unless they have a reason to. It's been fifteen years since the Battle of Hogwarts, and the wizarding world hasn't had a single incident of dark magic since Voldemort was defeated. It all just seems to have disappeared overnight.

Louis didn't really remember much of that, given that she was only about six years old when it happened. The castle had mostly been rebuilt when she started school, although there were a few parts that students weren't allowed to go into and several commemorative plaques throughout the halls filled with the names of students and adults alike who'd lost their lives in the fight.

After all the turmoil everyone had been through, it didn't make sense to Louis why anyone would willingly practice dark magic.

She shivered at the thought. Even though her mum had said the very idea was ridiculous, Louis couldn't seem to let it go. What if her mum was wrong? What if this witch _did_ practice dark magic and her mum just didn't know?

Louis doesn't bring the subject up again for the rest of the night, but there's a tension in the house that's never been there before. At first Louis thinks it's just Lottie being angry at Louis over her candles, but she's had Lottie be angry at her plenty of times in the past, so it can't be just that. Louis itches to pull her mum aside to talk about it properly, just the two of them, but she never manages to find the right time.

Two whole days pass before Jay brings it up again, and while Louis has been waiting the whole time for this moment, she certainly didn't expect it to happen the way it does.

"You want me to _what_?" she asks, positive that she's misheard her mum.

"I want you to take this welcome basket over to Nick."

" _Nick_?" Louis repeats incredulously. "What, we're on a first name basis with this--"

"Louis," Jay says in a warning tone.

" _Woman_ ," Louis finishes, obviously having switched out whatever word she was going to use. "I just… Mum, I don't understand."

"I don't expect you to, but you're going to do this and you're going to be polite about it." She thrusts the basket into Louis' hands and crosses her arms with an air of finality. There's no way Louis is going to be able to talk her way out of this.

Louis sighs heavily and looks down at the basket, filled with a number of homemade treats along with a few jars of her mum's own products. She recognizes them instantly, mostly from the days she's spent selling them at the local market in town, and she can't actually believe her mum's about to share them with this outsider.

"Mum!" she cries. "What if--"

"Louis," Jay repeats in the same tone. "I don't want to hear it."

"But Mum--"

"Lottie! Fizzy!" Jay calls, cutting Louis off before she can say another word.

Louis groans loudly, sinking into a chair with the basket still in her hands as her two sisters come into the kitchen. Lottie's mostly forgiven Louis, but it doesn't mean that she's not still a little bitter towards her.

"What's going on?" Fizzy asks as she looks back and forth between Louis and their mum.

"I want you two to go with Louis," Jay says. "Make sure she doesn't pitch the basket and I expect all three of you to give Nick a nice, proper welcome."

"Do we have to?" Lottie asks with a soft groan.

"Yes," Jay answers. Lottie sags a little but Fizzy just shrugs, seemingly indifferent to the whole situation.

"When're we leaving?" she asks. Jay looks at Louis and smiles brightly.

"No time like the present."

*

The welcome basket isn't overly large but it's a little awkward to carry for longer than a few minutes, which makes Louis extremely thankful that she's one, an adult wizard and two, has her wand with her. She charms the basket with a simple spell and it floats along beside her, but it doesn't lift her mood by any means. She's still extremely annoyed that her mum's made her, Lottie, and Fizzy some bizarre welcoming committee.

Louis can't help but think about how if she'd been allowed to go on her own she would've Apparated to Nick's front doorstep, dropped off the basket, and then gone down into town to visit Harry for half an hour or so. Then she would've gone home to her mum's and everything would've been fine.

Lottie and Fizzy walk ahead of Louis, chattering amongst themselves as Louis drags herself along. She's in a rotten mood because of all of this and the fact that she's getting absolutely no empathy from her sisters certainly isn't helping. She stops dead in her tracks and the basket hangs in mid-air beside her. She crosses her arms over her chest and glares at her sisters' backs for nearly thirty seconds before they even realize she's not keeping up.

"What're you doing?" Fizzy calls.

"I'm not going!" Louis shouts, just barely resisting stomping her foot.

"Mum said we have to," Lottie says in return. Louis can see her rolling her eyes even with the distance between them.

"Aren't you two the least bit suspicious of all this?" Louis asks, staying firmly in place as her sisters walk back towards her.

"Not really," Fizzy answers honestly. "Should we be?"

"I don't know," Louis says, huffing. "Probably?"

"Why?" Lottie asks. "That's stupid."

"You're stupid," Louis snaps. Lottie sticks out her tongue at Louis, who mimics her.

"I'm telling Mum," Fizzy says. "You're both idiots and at this rate, we'll never make it to Nick's before dark."

"Good," Louis says. "We shouldn't even have to go. It's stupid."

"You're stupid," Lottie says in a mocking tone. Louis glares at her but Fizzy's quick to get in-between them before they start bickering properly.

"The sooner we go, the sooner we can leave," she says. "All Mum said was that we had to drop off the basket and give Nick a proper welcome, she didn't say we had to stay."

"That's… true," Louis admits. She sighs softly.

"Just say hi, welcome to the neighborhood, and then piss off." Fizzy smiles.

Louis' mouth quirks with a smile. She should probably chastise Fizzy for the language, but their mum's not around so she can't find it in her heart to really care.

"I still don't get why you're being weird about it," Lottie says. "It's just a new witch--"

"That's just it, Lottie!" Louis interrupts. "A new witch, who we know nothing about! You don't get dark magic rumors started about you for no reason, y'know!"

"Or it's just a bunch of bored ninnies making it up! Mum wouldn't send us if she didn't think it was safe!" Lottie argues. "Since when do you think Mum doesn't know what's best for all of us?"

Louis scowls. It's not that she doesn't trust their mum. This whole thing is just unprecedented, is all. She knows loads of witches and wizards move all around the world all the time, but nobody ever comes to _their_ town. Some small part of Louis foolishly thought that nothing would ever change.

"Doesn't mean I have to like it," Louis replies quietly.

"She's probably some crotchety old woman," Fizzy suggests. "Bet she'll have a million cats."

"Or toads," Louis adds, cracking a smile. "Or _warts_!"

"Lou," Lottie says as she tries not to laugh. "That's disgusting."

"Just saying." Louis smiles smugly. "She's probably awful."

"Then you two will get along famously," Lottie replies. Her smile is so large that Louis can't even find it in herself to be angry for the insult.

"Alright," she says with a resigned sigh. "Let's get this over with. Sooner we get there, sooner we can leave."

"That's what I _said_ ," Fizzy says with a huff. "Why doesn't anyone listen to me?"

"Because you're the middle child," Louis says as she flicks her wand, making the basket bump into Fizzy. "That's why."

"That's rubbish," Fizzy grumbles as she shoves the basket away.

The three of them walk together in a line for the remainder of the trek to Nick's cottage. It's tucked away on the other side of town, on the edge of the woods. There's a fence surrounding the property that looks a bit like the one that's around their house, but all it's protecting is patches of dirt and grass that have obviously seen better days. There's no lush garden like what Louis' mum has done, and even though there's a sensible voice in Louis' head that argues that it's highly unlikely for Nick to have done anything with the property in the few days she's lived there, even _with_ the help of magic, Louis still counts it as a strike against her.

"Are we going up?" Lottie asks as she eyes the fence warily.

"You go first," Fizzy says, nudging Louis in the small of her back.

"Why me?"

"Because you're the oldest," Fizzy says.

"Because you've got a wand," Lottie adds. "And the basket."

Louis groans. "Fine. But stay close, alright?"

They open the gate and walk up the steps leading to the front door, but Louis hesitates before she even reaches for the doorbell. She's mostly weighing her options, debating whether to just leave the basket and run off or actually see what this new witch is like, but there's also a tiny bit of fear that she can't quite shake. Even if the rumor isn't grounded in truth, Louis can't stop herself from thinking the worst.

 _Just do it_ , she tells herself. _Just ring the doorbell. It'll all be over soon._

"C'mon, Lou," Lottie whispers. "Sooner we do it, y'know."

"I know," Louis whispers back. "Just…"

"What?" Fizzy asks.

"If she invites us in, we'll say we have to get home," Louis whispers quickly, looking over her shoulder at both of her sisters. "Yeah?"

Both Lottie and Fizzy nod in response and Louis turns back to the door. She takes a deep breath before she rings the doorbell, and waits. A few seconds pass by without so much as a sound coming from the other side of the door. Louis glances back at Lottie and Fizzy again, but they just stare at her as though she's supposed to know what to do in this situation.

Louis sighs as she reaches for the doorbell again, pressing it for longer this time. The door swings open before she can pull her hand back and suddenly, Louis is staring down a sight she didn't expect.

Nick isn't old, not at all. She's a few years older than Louis, but not by much. She's also impossibly beautiful, even if she looks a bit disheveled as she stands in her doorway. Nick looks at the three of them with confusion written all over her face but then her eyes drop down to the basket in Louis' hands and a smile breaks out across her face, and Louis can't breathe.

Nick's even _more_ beautiful when she smiles.

"Hiya," she greets. "Are you the welcoming committee or summat?"

Louis can't speak. She's completely forgotten how to form words at all. She wasn't prepared for this. This whole time she'd been imagining Nick to be around her mum's age or far older, she'd never even entertained the idea that Nick would be _young_.

She feels an elbow jab at her back and she lurches forward towards Nick, who immediately tries to catch her. Louis thankfully catches herself and whips her head around to glare at Lottie, who gives her a look in return that is probably meant to mean _what are you doing??_

"Can you… speak?" Nick asks nervously. Louis turns back to her and tries to speak, but before she can even get one word out, Lottie's beaten her to it.

"I'm Lottie," she says. "This is Fizzy, and _this_ idiot is Louis."

She jabs Louis in the back again and this time, Louis steps on her foot.

"Our mum sent us," Fizzy pipes up.

"Oh!" Nick says, her face lighting up. "Jay, right? Y'know, your mum's the reason I moved here."

"Really?" Lottie asks.

"Absolutely! Y'know, they still talk about her at St. Mungo's a lot. Always going on about how talented she is, and how they wish she hadn't moved away." Nick's mouth twists for a moment but her smile reappears as quick as a bolt of lightning. "But, I s'pose she couldn't necessarily be a full time healer somewhere like St. Mungo's and raise you three, eh?"

"Five, actually," Lottie says. "We've got two more sisters at home."

"Oh, really?" Nick laughs. "That's certainly a full house, innit?"

She looks at Louis again with a smile, and Louis barely manages to smile in return.

"Well," Nick clears her throat. "Would you like to come in?"

"Actually, we--" Lottie starts, but Louis stomps on her foot again, much harder this time.

"We'd love to," Louis chokes out over Lottie's cry of anguish.

"But you said--" Fizzy starts.

"Don't be rude, Fiz."

Nick steps back to welcome them in and Louis crosses the threshold quickly, leaving her sisters to follow behind her in a confused daze.

There are boxes everywhere, bits of packing material strewn about amongst half-unwrapped belongings. Nick leads them into the kitchen, where it seems she's spent most of her time since it's the most put-together. Louis directs the basket with her wand until it sets itself down on the kitchen table and Nick peeks at the contents, her smile growing ever-larger as she looks through it.

"This is amazing," she says. "Please tell your mum thank you. I'll have to get you lot something in return."

Both Lottie and Fizzy look to Louis for a reply, but Louis isn't useful in the least. She still can't take her eyes off Nick.

"Did you help with these?" Nick asks, looking to Lottie and Fizzy as she picks up one of the jars of their mum's mixtures.

"That's Mum's thing," Fizzy explains as she shakes her head.

"Did you work at St. Mungo's?" Lottie asks.

"I did." Nick hums softly. "I was training there for a while, but I, umm… left."

"How come?" Fizzy asks, despite Louis scolding her.

"Didn't work out for me," Nick replies. "Wasn't a good fit, y'know?"

"Mum thinks I might be a good healer, since I'm good with plants and stuff," Fizzy says. "But I dunno. I just like growing things."

"Nothing wrong with that," Nick replies with a smile. "What about you?" she asks, turning to Lottie. "What do you like to do?"

"I'm really into Divination," Lottie answers before Louis can stop her. "I'm hoping one day I'll be able to read minds, even though Mum says it's unlikely."

"You never know," Nick says as she nods her head. "Just because it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it couldn't."

"That's what I said!" Lottie replies excitedly. "Mum thinks--"

"Lottie," Louis says sharply, causing her to go quiet. Nick gives her a strange look and Louis quickly avoids eye contact. She should've known better than to accept Nick's invitation, what with Lottie and Fizzy being two of the nosiest witches she's ever known.

"Sorry, have I said something wrong?"

"No, it's just..." Louis clears her throat. "Y'know."

"Umm…" Nick laughs a little, as do Lottie and Fizzy, although their laughter is much louder. "Don't think I do, actually."

"You'll have to forgive her," Lottie says, nodding her head towards Louis. "She got hit in the head with a Confundus Charm a while back, hasn't really been right since."

"Really?" Nick says, her voice going slightly worried. "There usually aren't any lingering effects unless the caster did something wonky to the spell, have you--"

"I'm fine," Louis says quickly. "Lottie was only joking, weren't you?" She looks at Lottie pointedly, who rolls her eyes and sighs loudly in return.

"Yes, sorry, Louis wasn't Confunded, she's just a wanker."

"Lottie!" Louis snaps. Fizzy giggles wildly and Lottie just smirks at her.

"Oh," Nick says with a soft laugh. "Good sense of humor, eh?"

"Did you live in London?" Fizzy asks, entirely ignoring the current topic of conversation.

"I did," Nick replies.

"What's it like?" Fizzy asks.

"Is it wonderful?" Lottie adds, sounding a bit dreamy. "We've only ever gone to Diagon Alley with Mum, but I'm desperate to go there on my own."

"Well," Nick chuckles, "it's crowded, and full of Muggles, but overall I quite liked it."

"Why'd you move here?"

"Fizzy, don't be rude!" Louis hisses.

"It's alright," Nick replies, smiling. "I moved here because I wanted a change of scenery."

"What're you going to do now that you're not a Healer?" Fizzy asks curiously.

Before Nick can answer, Louis interrupts to ask where the loo is. Both Lottie and Fizzy turn to look at her with matching looks of total confusion, but Louis doesn't look at either of them.

"Yeah, it's, um…" Nick points towards the doorway they'd come through minutes before, "down the hall, on the right."

"Thanks," Louis says quickly as she hurries out of the room, leaving her sisters entirely bewildered by her behavior.

Louis can breathe easier once she's out of the kitchen, away from her sisters and Nick. She's reminded of the time when she accidentally ingested Amortentia at school, ages ago. Harry had been trying to give it to one of their classmates (a hilariously failed experiment on his part) to see whether she fancied him, but Louis had ended up drinking from the goblet by mistake and subsequently fallen in lust with Harry for a few hours.

It was the most embarrassing few hours of Louis' life, once it had worn off and she'd realized what had happened. She didn't speak to him for a full week afterwards, making it a worse fight than the Muggle Studies one.

But she wasn't slipped any love potions this time. Her heart's pounding, her hands are shaking, and she can hardly say three words around Nick without feeling like a total idiot. This isn't a love potion, it's a _crush_ , and it's worse than Louis ever imagined it could be.

She's got half a mind to just Apparate home and hole up in her room until the end of time, but she'd absolutely never hear the end of it from Lottie or Fizzy. The only way she's going to get out of this is if she holds her head up high and pushes through like it's nothing at all.

Louis has no idea how she's going to do it.

A few minutes pass before Louis finally forces herself to open the door and return to the kitchen, but she's momentarily distracted by the bookcases she hadn't noticed while walking down the hallway before. Unlike the other rooms she's seen of Nick's house, the bookcases are stocked full and, upon further inspection, are even _alphabetized_.

Out of pure curiosity, Louis looks for one of the books that Professor McGonagall had recommended to her for research. She can't quite believe it when she spots it on the third shelf, right next to _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_. Louis reaches for it but stops herself before her fingers even brush the binding.

Would it be rude to ask to borrow a book so soon after meeting Nick? Would Nick even lend it to her if she asked? Louis drops her arm and turns away from the bookshelf, the cogs in her mind turning faster than they ever have as she tries to figure this out.

Nick has one of the books she needs, and for all Louis knows she may have the rest. But being around Nick is positively embarrassing, and they've only just met. Louis can't imagine her crush getting any better if she spends _more_ time with Nick, so how is she supposed to get Nick to lend her any books without becoming more friendly?

It's a dilemma and it's making Louis' head hurt.

When Louis returns to the kitchen, she finds the three engaged in a conversation even more lively than the one they were having when she left. She hovers in the doorway, unsure of herself for the first time in absolute ages.

Fizzy's the first to notice her, and she rushes over to drag Louis further inside.

"Nick was just telling us about this pub in London where…" Fizzy rattles off a half dozen details about some Muggle pub while Louis sneaks a look at Nick, who's got her face in her hands but her smile is wide enough to be seen through her fingers.

"I swear, I'm not a bad influence," she moans. "Not usually, anyway."

"It's alright," Louis says, quickly looking away when Nick pulls her hands away from her face. "It's usually me, so it's nice to have someone else to pin the blame on for a change."

Nick laughs at that and Louis feels her cheeks burn and her heart skip a beat at the sound. She has to get out of here immediately.

"I think we ought to be getting home," she says, clearing her throat as she takes a step backwards. "Mum's probably waiting for us."

Lottie and Fizzy let out matching annoyed groans. It's a far cry from how any of them were behaving before Nick invited them inside, but Louis is determined not to think about that too hard. She definitely doesn't want to think about how quickly Lottie and Fizzy seemed to get attached to Nick, either.

"Already?" Nick says as she follows the three of them out of the kitchen and back to her front door. "Well, you're always welcome to drop by. I'll, umm…"

Louis opens the front door and turns around, letting Lottie and Fizzy step through first, and her eyes meet Nick's.

"I'll see you around, yeah?" Nick says, a bit softer. She smiles at Louis and Louis' heart flips again.

"Yep!" she replies, far louder than necessary. "Say bye, girls!"

"Bye!" Lottie and Fizzy chorus as Louis steps over the threshold and pulls the door closed behind her. She doesn't breathe normally until they're through the gate and halfway down the road.

"That wasn't so bad," Fizzy says, half-skipping as they head back the way they'd come.

"Told you it wouldn't be," Lottie says, giving Louis a pointed look. "Told you there was nothing to worry about."

"Shut up," Louis mutters.

"Nick's nice," Fizzy adds. "I like her."

"Good," Louis says distractedly. She tamps down the tiny voice in the back of her mind that says _so did I_.

"She said she'd help me with Potions!" Fizzy goes on. "And she said she'd tell me more stories about St. Mungo's and stuff."

"She's got some books on Divination she said I could borrow any time I like," Lottie says, a little smug edge to her voice. " _She_ doesn't think Divination is a waste of time."

Louis makes a mocking noise back at Lottie, and tunes them out for the remainder of their walk back to their house.

Nick had already offered her sisters so much, and for what? A few minutes of mindless chatter? Louis didn't know what to think. Maybe Nick was just so desperate to make friends in Rosemoor that she was willing to settle for Louis' younger sisters. She probably would've said yes if Louis had brought the book in from the shelf and asked to borrow it.

Louis curses her past self for not even giving it a try. She'd never been this timid in her life, why was it happening now? Why was it only happening with Nick?

*

Louis refuses to leave the house for a full week after her embarrassing display at Nick's. Lottie and Fizzy haven't shut up about Nick since they met her, and it does absolutely nothing to help with Louis' mental anguish. (Not that she's told anyone she's slowly losing her mind, that is.)

Instead of facing her problems head on, Louis hides away. She only ventures into town once, in the very early morning, to send an owl to Flourish and Blotts in Diagon Alley requesting the prices of all the books that Professor McGonagall suggested to her.

Her heart sinks ever lower two days later when she receives their response and finds that she'll never be able to afford all of the books. She's going to have to go back to Nick's and hope that she has more than just the one Louis saw on the shelf. And she's _really_ going to have to hope that she hadn't ruined everything with her behavior towards Nick the last time.

It's also getting harder for Louis to keep this secret from her mum. The added stress of her encounter with Nick isn't doing Louis' mental stability any favors, and she worries day in and day out that she's going to slip up.

So Louis does the only thing she knows will give her some sense of clarity and peace: she practices brewing potions. She keeps a small cauldron in her room, despite her mum asking her not to, and she picks out ones from the later chapters in _Advanced Potion Making_ that can be particularly tricky if you're not paying close attention.

It helps to get her mind off of Nick, but only until she runs out of her stash of ingredients in her room.

Louis thinks she's all alone in the house when she ventures down to the kitchen for tea and a few more ingredients for her next potion. The house is completely silent, which is what leads Louis to believe that her mum and sisters are all outside in the garden. The stairs creak under her feet as she makes her way down to the kitchen, keeping a careful eye out for any signs of her family members.

She's in the middle of rummaging through the cupboards, the kettle warming up on the stove, when her mum walks into the kitchen and foils Louis' plans of going unseen.

"What're you looking for?" she asks, startling Louis and nearly making her drop the container in her hand.

"Just, umm…" Louis clears her throat. "Meadowsweet."

"Think we're out, at the moment." Jay comes closer and gently closes the cupboard door and Louis' eyes drop down to her own hands. "You alright, love?"

"Just practicing, is all." Louis doesn't look up.

"Been practicing a lot, lately." She hums softly. "Hardly seen you."

Louis makes a soft noise of discomfort. She doesn't know what to say, how to explain what's going on inside her head. Whatever's taken up residence in her mind since meeting Nick has made an absolute mess of things, and she's worried too much will come spilling out if she tries to explain it to her mum.

"How about," Jay says as she tucks her hand under Louis' chin and tilts her face up, "you and I go into town together to get some more Meadowsweet, hmm?"

Louis cracks a smile and Jay laughs. "Just us?"

"Just us," she agrees.

As they walk from their house down into town, Louis expects her mum to steer the conversation back to why she's been holed up in her room for the last week, but she doesn't. Instead, they make idle chit chat about Louis' sisters and what they've been up to while Louis has been hiding herself away. It distracts Louis from her worries and before she knows it, they're in the centre of town amidst the hustle and bustle of everyone else running errands around them.

They're stopped time and again, because Louis' mum knows _everyone_ , and after the fourth time, Louis starts to wander off on her own. She strolls aimlessly through the farmer's market stalls while her mum chats, until she turns a corner and freezes. No more than ten feet ahead of her is _Nick_.

She gets so flustered in two seconds flat and immediately tries to turn around to leave, but she doesn't quite make it around the stall next to her and ends up running into the corner and causing a commotion when she knocks into it. By the time she's cleaned up the mess, Nick's spotted her and is making her way over. Louis can't hide, she just has to stay still and wait for it to be over.

"Louis!" Nick smiles brightly as she switches her multitude of bags over to one arm so she can extend a hand to her. Louis stares at it for a full ten seconds without moving, and Nick ends up drawing it back when no effort towards a handshake is made.

"Hi," Louis replies, clearing her throat. This is already going even more poorly than the last time she saw Nick and it's _horrible._

"I didn't get a chance to say a proper thank you the other day," Nick says, apparently not being put off by Louis' lack of enthusiasm. "Y'know, for the basket."

Louis nods, keeping her mouth firmly shut. There's a fluttery feeling in her chest that she's trying to ignore as Nick smiles at her. Louis looks away, scanning the market for her mum, hoping that maybe she'll go back to feeling normal if she stops looking at Nick.

She finally spots her mum and breathes a sigh of relief as she carefully starts to edge around Nick, making sure she doesn't knock into anything this time around.

"I've got to be going," she offers as an excuse. She doesn't expect Nick to turn with her, nor does she expect Nick to _join her_.

"Oh, that's your mum!" Nick says delightedly. "Now I can thank her, as well!"

"No, I can-- you don't have to--" Louis groans as Nick shuffles over towards her mum, her multitude of bags rustling against her so loudly that it's impossible for Louis to keep her mum from seeing Nick.

She grumbles to herself as she follows Nick over, hoping that maybe her mum's finally talked out and they'll get to go back home soon. Judging by the smile on her mum's face, it's a lost cause.

"How wonderful to see you again!" Jay says as Louis comes to stand next to her. "I see you've run into my eldest, Louis."

"Yes!" Nick replies with a bright smile. "I was just telling her thank you for that lovely basket you sent over. It was so nice of you, I really appreciated it."

"The least we could do," Jay says, waving her hand at Nick before it settles on Louis' arm. "Been picking up a few things?"

Nick laughs. "Just a few," she jokes as she jostles her bags. "Didn't mean to go overboard, really. I'll be needing a big spell to get this all home, I expect."

"Louis could help!" Jay offers, and Louis chokes on nothing.

" _Mum_ \--"

"Oh, she doesn't have to," Nick says, but her mum's grip on her arm tells Louis that she doesn't have the option of saying no.

"She'd be delighted to," Jay says.

"Absolutely," Louis replies through gritted teeth. This is her punishment for hiding in her room all week, she just knows it. Louis almost wishes her mum had just interrogated her instead.

"I'll pick up the Meadowsweet," Jay says as Louis dutifully relieves Nick of some of her bags, "and I'll see you later at home."

Louis doesn't say a word as Nick and her mum say their goodbyes. Behind Nick's back she gives her mum a mutinous look that's met with a smile, and Louis curses under her breath.

If she didn't know better, Louis would almost think her mum was trying to play matchmaker.

"Meadowsweet?" Nick asks, striking up conversation once they've left the farmer's market. "Been helping your sister with her potions?"

"What?" Louis blinks as she thinks for a moment before she remembers that Fizzy had talked about it with Nick before. "Oh, umm, not exactly. Just been… doing a bit of boning up, I guess."

"Oh, alright," Nick says. Louis turns away and grimaces. _Boning up? You couldn't think of any other way to phrase that, you idiot??_

"I've always loved the smell of it, don't you?" Nick goes on. "It's one of my favorite herbs to work with."

"Uh-huh."

Nick falls silent after Louis' reply, turning her head away and looking at the road ahead rather than at Louis. They're both quiet for a while, and Louis uses the time to try and think of something to say that wouldn't put her foot directly into her mouth, but suddenly Nick pauses in her stride and lets out a long sigh.

"I haven't actually done any spells in ages," she admits. "It's, umm, part of the reason I left where I was living before."

Louis' mind goes blank as she stares at Nick.

"I just… well, I messed up." Nick laughs in a self-deprecating way. "Fell in love with the wrong person, got mixed up and…" She looks at Louis. "Well, I'm sure you can figure out the rest."

Louis just keeps staring at her. She doesn't know how to process this information. The only thing her brain can come up with is a tiny army hellbent on destroying whoever broke Nick's heart, and that's certainly not helpful.

"You don't have to, like, mention it to your mum or anything." Nick clears her throat. "I'm not here to be any sort of competition or anything, I just, y'know, needed a fresh start."

Nick starts walking again, but she barely makes it a few steps before Louis speaks up.

"What're you going to do?" she asks.

"What d'you mean?" Nick looks back at her and Louis swallows harshly. She can feel her cheeks turning red under Nick's gaze.

This was _so_ much easier when Louis thought she'd been put under some sort of spell.

"You've got all this stuff," Louis says. "What're you going to do with it?"

Nick laughs softly as she looks down at her bags. "Dunno. Maybe I…" She shakes her head. "Thought it couldn't hurt to keep some things on hand, just in case."

She smiles at Louis and it sets off that fluttery feeling in Louis' chest again. They're silent for the rest of the trip back to Nick's cottage, and Louis finds that even as Nick's thanking her for her help, she still can't say a word.

When she gets back home, Louis immediately goes up to her room and closes the door behind her. She falls onto her bed and closes her eyes, the image of Nick's smile dancing across her eyelids as her heart pounds in her chest.

She half-wishes she'd accidentally ingested Amortentia for a second time. At least it would wear off in a matter of hours rather than sticking around for who knows how long. But this isn't a spell or a potion, it's real, and Louis has no idea what she's going to do.

*

The following morning, Louis is woken up by an owl tapping on the glass of her window with its beak. She jumps out of bed to open the window and accept the tiny letter wrapped around its leg, and doesn't even bother closing the window again once she's seen who's written her.

_Louis,_

_Of course you can write to me again. I do wish I could be of more help to you in the physical sense, but this will have to do. Have you acquired the books I suggested? I do believe they're all available at Flourish and Blotts, though it's been a while since I've set foot in Diagon Alley._

_I will ask you to be mindful of your mother's wishes. I'm sure you remember as well as I (or perhaps better) the Howler she sent in your fifth year. Remember that you would've been under my supervision then. She may be even more reticent to support this process now that you're on your own, your age and skills notwithstanding._

_But, if you still wish to become an Animagus, then good luck. It's well worth it, that I can tell you._

_Best,_

_Minerva McGonagall_

Louis reads the letter through several more times before she tucks it inside of her Transfiguration textbook with the others. She climbs back into bed and pulls the covers up to her chin, letting her thoughts run wild.

Professor McGonagall has a point, after all. They had been through this once before, when Louis was in her fifth year and had decided she wanted to become an Animagus. She can still remember the excitement she felt writing home to her mum for permission, as was necessary since she was still underage and at school.

She doubts she'll ever forget the Howler her mum sent back.

Louis pushes the memory away, taking a deep breath and letting it out slow as she tells herself that this time will be different. She's an adult, she has Professor McGonagall's blessing, she can do this.

All she needs is a little bit more time, and a few more books.

Thinking about the books she needs leads her thoughts to Nick. She finds herself wondering what Nick's up to, rationalizing her curiosity by telling herself it's a necessary connection. She already knows Nick has one of the books, it's only logical for Louis to wonder about the rest.

But then… her mind starts to wander off course. She wonders if Nick's tried brewing a potion in her new kitchen. She thinks about all the boxes scattered around Nick's house and wonders if they've all been unpacked. She can't help but wonder why anyone would give up a career as a Healer, especially when they haven't got a family of their own to lean on for support.

Guilt washes over her when she thinks about how her mum must've been whispered and gossiped about when she first moved to this town. On her own with a young daughter, having left behind her career and everything she knew just to get a fresh start.

Louis shuts her eyes, groaning softly as she rolls away from the window and buries her face against her pillow.

No wonder her mum told her to be nice to Nick.

She slips out of the house mostly unnoticed later that morning, making her way across town towards Nick's cottage. Even though it takes far longer to walk, she doesn't trust herself to Apparate without getting Splinched. Her heart starts beating faster the closer she gets, until she's standing around the corner from it and her legs are threatening to give out from under her from nerves.

She tells herself that she's nervous because she's trying to be sneaky, and that's not always gone well for her in the past. She hesitates further by the fence surrounding Nick's cottage, twisting her hands around the wooden pegs and tugging on them. She accidentally pulls one out of the ground after tugging too hard, and she curses under her breath before whipping out her wand to put it back.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spots a curtain fluttering in one of Nick's windows and she quickly drops down to the ground to avoid being seen. As she presses her forehead against her knees, Louis starts muttering to herself.

"What're you even doing? This is stupid!"

She straightens up after a minute or so, brushing the dirt from her legs as she glances at Nick's cottage again. A breeze blows by and the curtain flutters once more, and this time Louis finds it irritating rather than nerve-wracking.

"Idiot," she mutters grumpily before turning on her heel and heading back home.

The following morning, she does it again. And again the next day, and the next, continuing on through the week even though she never gets further than Nick's fence.

On the fifth day Louis spends hanging around the fence, everything changes.

A loud crack startles her so completely that she falls onto her backside with a shout, and suddenly she's staring up at Nick who's appeared beside her.

"Ooh, sorry! Didn't mean to scare you."

"Didn't mean to scare me?" Louis says, her usual timid demeanor around Nick giving way to her anger over being surprised. "You Apparated within an inch of me and you didn't mean to _scare_ me?"

"I always forget about the crack," Nick says as she extends her hand down to Louis to help her up. "Don't really like to Apparate much. Makes me all queasy."

"Then why'd you do it?" Louis asks grumpily as she gets to her feet, brushing the dirt from her bum.

"Had to make sure you wouldn't run off before I could get to you," Nick answers with a smile.

"What d'you mean?" Louis asks, even though she absolutely already knows the answer.

"Don't think I haven't noticed you hanging around," Nick says with a smile.

"I haven't," Louis says quickly, but it doesn't stop Nick from continuing on.

"Been wondering if you were gonna actually come up to the door or not."

Louis flushes and looks away.

"D'you wanna come in?" Nick asks in a careful tone. "Have a cup of tea?"

"I… um…" Louis looks at the house, then at Nick, and then around at the empty road leading back to her mum's house. There's absolutely no reason for her to say no, especially now that Nick's actually _caught_ her outside.

Louis has been trying to gather the courage to go up to the door for days, and now here she is being handed an opportunity to go inside, practically on a silver platter. If there were ever a time for Louis to stop being scared, it's now.

"Yes," she forces herself to say. "That would be… nice."

Nick smiles widely. "Excellent."

*

Louis follows Nick's steps from the door towards the kitchen in a hesitant manner. Her house is far more put together than it was the last time Louis was here, and Louis wonders offhandedly how long it took Nick to get everything just right.

The kitchen is meticulously organized; rows and rows of jars line the countertop and through the glass panes of the cupboards Louis can see more of the same. She can't help comparing Nick's kitchen to her mum's back at home, wondering if her mum was this organized once upon a time. She imagines it's hard to keep one room orderly with kids roaming about, let alone an entire house.

Maybe she'll enlist her sisters to help tidy up the house for Mother's Day or something. Louis thinks her mum would like that.

"What sort of tea would you like?" Nick asks, her voice snapping Louis out of her own thoughts.

"Umm… whatever you're having is fine," she answers timidly. Louis tugs at her sleeve as Nick turns her back, rummaging through one of the cupboards until she finds what she's looking for. Louis twists the fabric of her sleeve between her fingers as she stands on the opposite side of the kitchen counter from Nick.

It's a surprise to Louis to see that Nick doesn't use magic to make tea, considering it's what most witches and wizards do. Louis' mum prefers to make it the Muggle way and to see Nick doing the same comforts her in a way she hadn't known she needed.

"Sorry it took so long," Nick says as she sets a mug down in front of Louis. "I just think tea tastes better when you don't use magic."

"My mum says that too," Louis replies with a small smile.

"Really?" Nick smiles brightly. "Small world, then."

Louis nods, hiding her growing smile in her mug. The tea is still far too hot for her to drink, but at least holding the mug gives her hands something to do.

Silence falls over the two of them, the familiar tension of two near-strangers both trying to find something to talk about. Louis tries not to look at Nick but she keeps catching a glimpse of Nick's smile out of the corner of her eye and it's terribly distracting.

"So…" Louis looks up at the sound of Nick's voice, and Nick laughs a little. "What's got you hanging around my fence?"

Louis flushes and immediately looks down at the mug in her hands. "Would you…" Louis pauses to give a little awkward laugh, "would you believe me if I said I didn't know?"

Nick laughs louder. "I would, actually. Can't say I wouldn't do the same if I were you."

Louis should relax at that, but instead she remains just as nervous as before.

"I'm glad you decided to come inside," Nick goes on, her voice going a little softer. "Been a bit lonely around here, if I'm being honest."

"Lonely?" Louis repeats without thinking. She regrets saying it the moment the word's left her mouth and she wishes she had a Time Turner to fix her slip up.

"Yeah, y'know." Nick shrugs. "I don't really know anyone in Rosemoor. It's a bit scary, moving somewhere new."

"I wouldn't know," Louis says. "I've lived in Rosemoor all my life. Apart from Hogwarts, of course."

Nick smiles again. "Hogwarts, eh? Did you like it there?"

"Yeah," Louis replies, "it was brilliant. It's a bit sad now, watching my sisters go off to Hogwarts while I stay home. But… y'know. I had my time there." Louis shrugs. "It's their turn now."

"I've heard all sorts of stories about Hogwarts," Nick says. "Sounds like a pretty amazing place."

"You didn't go to Hogwarts?" Louis asks, confused.

Nick shakes her head. "Nah, I went to Beauxbatons. Dunno why my parents decided to send me there, of all places, I don't even bloody speak French."

Louis' eyes widen. She's never known anyone who went to Beauxbatons. She'd only heard stories about it from older students whose family members had gotten to meet students from there and Durmstrang during the Triwizard Tournament.

(The Triwizard Tournament had been permanently retired after the death of Cedric Diggory, mostly due to the protest led by Cedric's parents. They rightfully blamed the Ministry for his death because if it hadn't been for the tournament, Cedric would probably be alive today. The outcry was so substantial (especially after Harry Potter himself went public with his support of Cedric's parents, that the Ministry was forced to decree that it was, in fact, too dangerous for underage wizards and subsequently banned any future tournaments.)

"What was it like?" Louis asks, leaning forward on the kitchen counter. "Did you really have a Giant for a Headmistress?"

Nick's eyes crinkle as she laughs loudly in delight, and Louis' heart flutters. It's entirely possible that Nick's laugh is the sweetest sound she's ever heard.

The hours seem to fly by as Nick regales Louis with stories from her years at Beauxbatons and the time she spent in London. It all sounds so exciting to Louis, who's only ever been to Diagon Alley to buy supplies for Hogwarts. She can't stop her mind from daydreaming of what it must have been like to live in London, which leads her down the path to imagining what it would be like if she had met Nick there instead of in Rosemoor.

Nick doesn't explicitly say what made her come to Rosemoor, and even though Louis is _dying_ to ask, she keeps her mouth shut. She reasons that it's none of her business, no matter how curious she may be. Besides, there's a certain piece of information that Nick lets slip that is a thousand times more important to Louis than whatever brought Nick to Rosemoor: _Nick likes girls_.

At first, Louis thinks she must've misheard Nick as she's telling a story from when she lived with her former girlfriend. Plenty of women refer to their best friends as their girlfriends, so Louis doesn't let herself get her hopes up just yet. But the further into the story she gets, the more it becomes clear that the bond between Nick and this girl wasn't just friendship.

Louis' heart pounds as she hangs on every word Nick says. All this time she'd been thinking she had imagined all the looks that Nick had given her, that the smiles had been nothing more than Nick being friendly.

She thinks back to when she first heard about Nick's arrival and how angry she'd been. If only she'd known then.

"Anyway," Nick says, "I've been going on and on and I'm sure you're well sick of listening to me."

"I like listening to you talk," Louis replies with a shy smile.

"Well, if it's alright, I'd like to hear you talk now," Nick says as she rests her chin in the palm of her hand. "Tell me all about Louis Tomlinson."

And so she does. Louis tells Nick about her mum and sisters, about their kooky little house and how some days her sisters drive her up the wall but somehow they're all still thick as thieves. She talks about the odd jobs she's had all over Rosemoor, and how none of them have lasted for more than a month.

(It isn't necessarily her fault. Louis just has a difficult time dealing with insufferable people.)

She mentions Harry, of course, and she _definitely_ notices how interested Nick becomes when he's brought into the conversation. But just like she kept her mouth shut when Nick brought up an old girlfriend, Nick doesn't ask her point-blank about whether or not Harry is or has ever been her boyfriend.

So Louis takes matters into her own hands and tells Nick the Amortentia story.

"I'm telling you, he's lucky I didn't revoke his best friend status on the spot," Louis says proudly as Nick howls with laughter.

"Not your type, then?" Nick asks slyly.

Louis makes sure she's looking Nick right in the eye when she says, "definitely not."

There's a softness to the air surrounding them in the minutes that follow. They both remain silent for a while, exchanging soft smiles as they enjoy each other's company. It's reminiscent of the silence they shared just a few hours ago, but this time there's no trace of awkwardness. The nervousness between them now has a different connotation, and Louis is aching to see where it goes.

Unfortunately, she catches a glimpse of the time and her heart drops. She's been gone for nearly five hours. She hadn't told anyone she was leaving the house in the first place, having thought she wouldn't be gone for very long.

Her mum's going to kill her.

"I have to go," she says suddenly, taking a few steps back from the kitchen counter. Nick stands up straight and watches Louis with careful eyes, as though she's worried she's gone and done something wrong.

"Are you--"

"It's just…" They both laugh a little as they talk over each other, but Louis is the first to recover. "Been gone a while. My mum might be wondering where I am."

"Better run along, then." Nick's hands fidget at her sides and Louis' eyes are drawn to the movement. She looks up at Nick's face again and wishes she didn't have to go.

"Could I… umm, would it be alright if I came by again sometime?" Louis asks.

Nick smiles broadly. "You're welcome anytime, Louis."

*

To her sisters' surprise and her mother's content, Louis starts spending more time with Nick. She goes to Nick's house nearly every day of the week, though the time spent there varies from an hour or two or almost all day long. Louis insists that she's helping Nick settle in (although Nick's now been in Rosemoor for over a month), but given the looks that her sister and mum share behind her back, they don't necessarily believe her.

The truth is that all Louis and Nick do is talk. There's absolutely no funny business occurring while Louis is there, even though she's dreamt of it half a dozen times or so. It's impossible for Louis to tell whether Nick is even interested in any funny business and she certainly doesn't have the courage to ask, which leaves her rather frustrated in more ways than one.

Still, she keeps going back. She wants to spend as much time with Nick as she can (even though Harry has started sending her owls mourning her absence and saying if she'll just come down to the shop _once_ this week he'll let her harass him to her heart's content). And as long as Nick lights up whenever Louis appears at her door, Louis will keep on doing so.

Nick tells her more stories from London, from Beauxbatons, and even further back. They share secrets over cups of tea and biscuits, giggling at past incidents of foolishness and swearing to never repeat what's been revealed. Louis tells Nick things that she's never even told her sisters or her mum, all except one.

And it's one she desperately wants to talk about. (Apart from wanting to kiss the living daylights out of Nick, that is.)

It's partially due to the fact that whenever she's around Nick, her brain goes a bit haywire. She forgets about anything that isn't in the here and now, which usually means that she spends most of her time staring into Nick's eyes and trying to come up with new ways to learn even more about her than she already knows. Even if Louis tells herself a hundred times to stick to a plan before she goes over to Nick's cottage, once she's there everything goes immediately out the window.

Regardless of how immensely frustrating it is, Louis can't seem to stop herself from continuing to do it.

She decides to write to Professor McGonagall, thinking perhaps she'll have some good advice. Before she starts her letter, she re-reads one of Professor McGonagall's previous letters in which she mentioned Louis ought to seek out someone who's particularly gifted in potions. In Louis' opinion, who better than a healer? (Her mum notwithstanding, for obvious reasons.)

_Professor McGonagall,_

_I've made a new friend who used to be a healer at St. Mungo's and I'm thinking of asking for their aid in my goal to become an Animagus. In one of your previous letters you suggested I should find someone who's particularly gifted in potions and, excluding my mother and my younger sisters, this new friend of mine is all I've got._

_What I'm not sure of is how to go about asking. It's a rather sensitive subject for me personally, and even though it's not illegal (unless of course I don't report myself to the Ministry upon reaching my goal, which I don't intend to forget to do) I do worry about the possibility of failure and dragging someone into said failure and the consequences that may result from it._

_Am I just overthinking it? Should I just be brave and ask anyway?_

_The worst thing that could happen is they say no. I was right terrified asking you, and you said yes, so perhaps I'll get lucky again._

_Louis Tomlinson_

After finishing her letter, Louis pauses for a moment and reads over her scribbles. By the time she's reached the end she's absolutely horrified by the stream of consciousness written on the page and decides she can't possibly send this to Professor McGonagall after all.

She crumples up the parchment and flicks her wand, setting it alight and watching it burn to ash right before her eyes. She sweeps the remnants into the small bin under her desk and then grabs a fresh sheet of parchment, deciding instead to give Professor McGonagall a short update on her progress (or lack thereof).

_Professor McGonagall,_

_I haven't been able to acquire the texts yet, but I've got a friend who may be able to help me. Hopefully the next time I write you, I'll have something better to report. Setbacks aside, I'm still very much dedicated to the success of this project._

_Yours,_

_Louis Tomlinson_

"Much better," Louis says to herself. She blows gently on the ink, willing it to dry quickly so she can roll up the parchment and take it down to the Owl Post Office without delay.

Louis goes bounding down the stairs, intending to run out the door and down into town, but she comes to a skidding stop when her mum appears at the bottom. Louis holds the parchment behind her back and smiles at her, hoping that for once her mum won't see right through her and ask what's going on.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

Louis gulps. "To see Harry," she lies quickly.

"At the market?" Louis nods, and her mum smiles. "I'm sure he'll be happy to see you. I spoke to Anne yesterday and he's been missing you a bit, these last few weeks."

"Yeah," Louis says as her cheeks go red. "I thought, y'know, I should go and see him so he doesn't throw a fit or something."

"S'pose you should," she replies, laughing softly. "Surely Nick can survive without you for a day."

" _Mum_."

"I'm glad you've befriended her, and not just on my behalf--"

" _Mum!_ "

"Alright, alright." She steps back and lets Louis step off the last stair. "Off with you. Give Harry my best, will you?"

"I will," Louis says, pausing to kiss her mum on the cheek before she sets off through the front door and down the front walkway.

After her stop at the Owl Post Office, Louis goes into the market looking for Harry. It's been so long since she's actually seen her best friend that she doesn't know if he's working today or not. When she sees a familiar mess of brown curls, she's half relieved and half annoyed. If he wasn't working then she could've just gone on to Nick's like she was planning.

Then again, if Harry hadn't been working and Louis hadn't seen him, then word probably would've floated back to her mum and she would've known Louis was lying. Louis sighs a little and then puts a smile on her face as she skips over to give Harry's curls a good tug.

"Ow!" Harry spins around, his face softening when he sees Louis. "Lou!"

"Hazza," Louis says, her smile becoming more natural as Harry's widens. "Been a while, hasn't it?"

"More than," Harry says with an indignant huff. "You've all but abandoned me."

"I did not. I've just made a new friend, is all."

"Friend," Harry repeats with a huff. "Is that what you're calling her?"

Louis turns bright red and smacks Harry's shoulder once, and again when he starts to laugh at her.

"Alright! I'm sorry!" He says, holding his hands up defensively.

"You bloody well should be," Louis replies. "Me and Nick are just friends, thank you very much."

"Alright, alright, if you say so." There's a glint in Harry's eyes that gives Louis the urge to smack him again, but she holds it back for the time being. If he really deserves it later on, she'll let him have it.

"So..." Louis says after the silence that follows. Harry is just smiling at her, like he always does, but Louis can't help feeling awkward.

She's missed Harry, she _has_ , but there's an itch under her skin that won't go away. She wonders what Nick's doing at that very moment. Is she waiting for Louis? Has she made a pot of tea in anticipation of a visit that might not happen today?

"Louis? Did you hear me?"

Louis blinks and realizes Harry's hand is in front of her face. She pushes it away with a grimace, which only makes Harry's smile wider.

"Shut up," she grumbles.

"And you think I've got my head in the clouds," Harry mumbles.

"You do," Louis says, having heard him perfectly well. "Going in about Muggles the way you do, I wouldn't be surprised if you fall in love with one someday."

"I will not," Harry says, his tone slightly petulant. "Muggles don't come to Rosemoor, you know that."

Louis opens her mouth to give a snarky reply when she hears a voice say her name behind her and she turns around to see none other than Nick Grimshaw standing at the end of the aisle.

"Nick!" Louis says brightly. Her face goes red immediately as Harry starts snickering behind her back, but she tries to cover the sound by clearing her throat loudly. "Doing some shopping?"

"Just a bit," Nick says as she brandishes the bag at her side, smiling as its contents rattle around inside. "You?"

"Just popped in for a visit." Louis nods her head towards Harry. "He's been lost without me."

"Hey," Harry protests.

"Sorry about that," Nick says, laughing, "Harry, right?"

"Yeah," he replies, extending his hand while giving Louis a pointed look. "Lou's best friend. It's good to _finally_ meet you."

" _Harold_ ," Louis hisses under her breath.

"It's alright," Nick says, her smile never faltering. "That's probably my fault, innit?"

Harry and Louis answer at the same time, the former with an affirmative while the latter denies it. Nick covers her mouth as she chuckles, putting on a very serious face once she's recovered.

"Think I should let you two get back to…" Nick waves her hand around, "whatever it was you were doing."

Louis swallows her protest as Harry tells Nick goodbye, giving Nick the biggest smile she can manage (which, is to say, not very big at all). Even though she's spent the last several days in a row with Nick, she can't help but feel like she'd much rather go home with her in this very moment than stay at the shop with Harry.

In the hour or so that follows, Louis loses her luster rather quickly. Where conversation used to naturally flow between her and Harry, now it's stilted and slightly awkward. Harry's trying far harder than Louis and it's dreadfully obvious that her mind is somewhere else completely.

When Harry's shift ends, the two of them leave the shop and Harry unexpectedly pulls Louis into a hug. She stays still for a moment before hugging him back and gives him a curious look when he pulls away.

"What was that for?"

"Just wanted to," he says. He lets out a soft breath and then clears his throat. "Mum's waiting for me, I should probably…"

"Harry--"

"It's alright," Harry says as he gently knocks his knuckles against Louis' chin. "Just… y'know, don't be a stranger."

Louis twists her mouth to hide the fact that her bottom lip is threatening to tremble, and pulls Harry into a crushing hug. She shuts her eyes and thinks to herself _I don't deserve you_ while she squeezes him as tight as she can.

She watches as Harry leaves, turning the corner to head for his mum's house and leaving Louis standing alone in front of the shop. She turns towards the road that leads back to her own house but hesitates. Her eyes wander over to the one that leads to Nick's cottage and before she knows it, her feet are moving her over that way instead of going home.

Fifteen minutes later she finds herself on Nick's front steps, waiting with bated breath for her to open the door.

Louis' heart fully skips a beat when the door swings backwards and Nick's face lights up at the sight of her.

"Well, isn't this a lovely surprise?"

With absolutely no forethought whatsoever, Louis rocks upwards onto her toes and presses a kiss to Nick's cheek. A flush blooms in her own cheeks as Nick's hand reaches up to touch the spot where Louis kissed her.

"I thought…" Louis pauses and clears her throat, laughing a little as she does so, "I thought I'd stop by on my way home."

"From the market?" Louis nods. Nick clicks her tongue and her smile turns a little wicked. "I'm not exactly on the way, am I?"

"Shut it," Louis mumbles as she ducks her head, hiding her face from Nick. "Can I come in?"

"Of course," Nick says, stepping aside at once.

There's a moment of hesitation as Nick closes the front door once Louis crosses the threshold. Just as Louis is about to make her way towards the kitchen, Nick reaches out and catches her wrist with a gentle grasp.

"C'mere," Nick whispers, "for a sec."

Louis hums curiously as she steps closer into Nick's space, twisting her wrist around so she can tuck her hand into Nick's. Both of them stare down at their intertwined hands until Nick cups her other hand against Louis' cheek, bringing her attention upwards.

"Nick--" Louis starts, but her breath is stolen in a heartbeat. Nick presses her lips to Louis', soft and timid, pulling away after a few seconds.

"I just--" Nick begins, but Louis kisses her again before she can get all of her words out. They stand there in Nick's living room, kissing each other over and over until they're both breathless.

Their kisses taper off naturally, and soon they're left just gazing at each other with matching fond looks and a ridiculously happy laugh escapes Louis' mouth.

"Hi," she whispers.

"Hi," Nick whispers back, laughing along with Louis. "D'you fancy some tea?"

Louis chokes back another laugh and Nick closes her eyes.

"I mean, I just thought--"

"I'd love some tea," Louis says. "And then more snogging."

Nick bites her bottom lip and nods. "That, umm, that sounds like a good plan."

"Meet you in the kitchen," Louis says, pecking Nick's lips once more before she slips off down the hallway.

On her way back from the toilet, Louis catches a glimpse of Nick's bookshelf and the letter she just sent to Professor McGonagall pops into her mind. _It's now or never_ , a voice in the back of her mind says as she watches Nick go about making some tea for the two of them, and she steels herself to ask the question that's been burning for days.

"Nick?" Louis says tentatively.

"Hmm?"

"Have you, umm," Louis jabs her thumb behind her towards the bookshelf in the hall, "have you read all of the books on that shelf?"

Nick hums. "Most, definitely. I dunno if I've gotten to all of them," she says as she pours hot water into two mugs. "Why d'you ask?"

"Just curious, is all." Louis looks down at the kitchen table and nearly loses her nerve. "I've-- I'm just interested in learning new things."

"What, like, independent study?" Nick asks as she pushes one mug towards Louis.

"Something like that." Louis glances up at Nick and is immediately worried by the look on her face. "What?"

"It's… well, magic is dangerous, innit?" Nick shrugs. "Anything could happen when you're messing about on your own."

"Well, yeah, but isn't that how new spells are discovered?" Louis argues. "By witches and wizards messing about on their own?"

"Is that what you're trying to do? Discover a new spell?"

"No, I'm just--"

"Because if you are, I don't think it's a good idea."

"I'm not," Louis says firmly, trying to keep her voice level. She's never been angry with Nick before but with the way this conversation is going, it's beginning to happen. "I just… want to learn new things."

"Academic, like?" Nick asks. "Not practically?"

Louis shrugs, noncommittal. She looks down at her mug again and tries not to feel so defeated. She half wishes she could go back to fifteen minutes ago, when they were kissing and everything was perfect. Now it's like her fifth year all over again, only this time instead of her mum sending a Howler, it's the girl she fancies treating her like a child.

"Hey," Nick says softly as she moves closer to Louis. "You can borrow any book you like, I just… I want you to be careful."

Nick reaches out and covers Louis' hand with her own. When Louis looks up and meets Nick's eye, a warm and fuzzy feeling spreads from her heart throughout the rest of her body and her anger melts away. She leans in for a kiss, feeling relief when Nick starts kissing her back without a second thought.

It's in that moment that Louis knows what she needs to do. She needs to prove to Nick that she knows exactly what she's getting herself into. Nick needs to see all the research she's already done, and the letters from Professor McGonagall herself.

 _Maybe_ , she thinks, _just maybe, with Nick's seal of approval, I can finally do this._

*

The summer is quickly drawing to a close with every passing day. The countdown for the first day of term at Hogwarts for her sisters has begun, and with it comes an opportunity for Louis. It's a tradition for the six of them to go to Diagon Alley as a family to collect all the supplies the girls will need for the upcoming school year, but this time around Louis is planning to stay behind.

She begs off early in the morning, telling her mum that she's not feeling all that well and it's probably better for all of them if she just stays at home in bed. Lottie and Fizzy both think she's absolutely mad to miss out on a trip to Diagon Alley, whereas their mum seems rather suspicious of the whole thing.

Louis all but holds her breath while her mum makes a decision, hoping against hope that she'll allow her to stay behind. She is a grown woman, after all, not a child who can't be left on her own. But in order not to press her luck, Louis keeps her mouth resolutely shut.

"Alright," Jay says. "You don't have to come, since you're feeling poorly."

Louis lets out a sigh of relief but quickly covers it with a cough, hoping her mum didn't notice, and tugs her duvet around her tightly.

"Have fun," Louis tells the twins as they pass her by on their way towards the fireplace. "Bring me back something from the Weasely's."

"Or you could come get it yourself," Lottie says in a sarcastic tone. Louis coughs pointedly and glares at her younger sister.

"Alright, c'mon," Jay says as she takes the small pot of Floo Powder off the mantelpiece. "Lots to do today, stop tormenting your sister."

"She started it," Louis and Lottie say together. Fizzy snickers loudly and the twins giggle.

When their mum turns her back, Louis and Lottie stick out their tongues at each other. Less than a minute later, her family disappears through the fireplace and Louis is left with a blessedly empty house.

She drops the duvet from around her shoulders, letting it pile at her feet on the floor and leaving it there as she goes into the kitchen. The family owl, Penelope, is lightly snoozing near the window but stirs when Louis pulls one of the chairs out at the kitchen table and it scrapes along the floor.

It's all planned out in her head. All she needs is for Nick to say yes.

_Fancy some tea at mine today? I've got something to share with you. Come by whenever you like._

_x Louis_

She waits a few seconds for the ink to dry before rolling up the parchment and attaching it to Penelope's leg. Penelope hoots indignantly at being woken up by the chair and now being expected to deliver Louis' message.

"It's not that far," Louis says. "You'll be back to napping in no time."

Penelope nips at Louis' finger but takes off from her perch a few seconds later, soaring into the sky and heading off towards Nick's cottage. Louis watches for a little while before she remembers herself and the load of work she's got to accomplish before Nick turns up.

She rushes out of the kitchen and towards the staircase, grabbing her duvet from where she left it before bounding up the stairs two at a time to her room. The letters from Professor McGonagall are right where she left them, in a neat pile tucked away in her desk.

Louis gathers them all along with her other research on Animagi and a few of her Hogwarts textbooks, trying her best to carry everything back downstairs without dropping any of it. The living room, albeit messy, is the best place in Louis' opinion to fully display everything for Nick to be able to peruse it all.

She's got a bit of work to do.

There are scattered toys belonging to the twins everywhere, various piles of dirt with odd labels in Fizzy's handwriting on each and every windowsill, and countless remains of Lottie's candles left to burn down to the wick. Louis sets to work clearing off the biggest table first so she has some space to spread out her research. All the rest is tidying up so Nick won't think she comes from a family full of absolute slobs.

Louis doesn't realize how much time passes as she's cleaning up, but suddenly she hears Penelope's familiar hoot and she realizes two whole hours have passed since she sent her off to Nick.

A large, bright smile spreads across her face as she goes running into the kitchen to meet Penelope. She feeds Penelope a treat as she carefully takes Nick's reply off of her leg, her heart racing as she unrolls the scrap of parchment.

 _Sorry_ , it says. _Can't today._

Louis' face falls and her heart plummets to the pit of her stomach. She doesn't understand. Never in a million years had she expected this to be Nick's response. At the very least she deserves some sort of explanation.

"Don't go back to sleep," she tells Penelope as she rummages around the kitchen for another scrap of parchment.

Penelope hoots angrily as Louis sits down at the kitchen table with her new parchment and scribbles out another message.

_Why not? Is everything okay?_

Louis pauses for a moment, biting her bottom lip as she wonders whether she should just come clean about the whole thing now. It could entice Nick to come by, but it could also scare her off entirely. Louis shakes her head and rolls up the parchment and goes back over to Penelope.

"Don't give me that look," she mutters as she ties her note to Penelope's leg. "Make sure you get a reply, alright?"

Penelope hoots once before she takes off again, leaving Louis alone. She sinks down into her previous chair at the kitchen table and waits with her head in her hands. Her head positively spins with the whirlwind of thoughts inside her mind, each one wondering how today has already gone so wrong when it started out so well.

Somehow this was a reality she hadn't prepared for. Every outcome she had thought out in her mind beforehand had counted on the fact that Nick would come over. Louis had tried to plan for every possible reaction Nick could have to learning about Louis' desire to become an Animagus, but she never thought she'd be shot down without even a chance to explain herself.

More time passes, the morning fading into the afternoon, without Penelope's return. Louis starts getting anxious as she watches the time tick by, knowing that her family will be coming back in the early evening.

This wasn't how it was supposed to go. Nick was supposed to be here by now. What could possibly be keeping her away?

By the time Penelope finally comes back, Louis has all but given up hope.

 _Just can't. Sorry_.

Louis crumples up the parchment, tossing it aside and covering her face with her hands. They muffle the scream that follows, but Penelope is startled by the noise regardless. She flaps her wings angrily and hoots, but Louis doesn't say a word.

She storms back into the living room and takes her frustration out on the carefully curated piles of parchment and texts laid across the table.

How could Nick do this? How could she spend so many days in a row talking to Louis, laughing with Louis, sharing _secrets_? Did it all mean nothing? Was Nick just waiting for Louis to get too close, too comfortable? Was she waiting for Louis to let her guard down, to let Nick in and start to fall for her? Was it all some elaborate plan to break Louis' heart?

Louis falls to her knees amidst the chaos she's created, pressing the heels of her hands against her eyes to keep the tears from coming. She's so angry, so frustrated, and so upset. She wishes she'd never gotten her hopes up the way she did, that she'd never let Nick Grimshaw into her heart. It all feels so foolish now, so childish.

"No," she says breathlessly, pulling her hands away from her face. "No, she's not going to get off this easy."

Louis Disapparates, reappearing seconds later in front of Nick's cottage.

"Nick!" she shouts as she runs up the steps. "Nick!!" Louis pounds on the door, continuing to shout Nick's name.

But there's no answer. Louis goes around to the closest window and tries to peek inside, but as far as she can tell, nobody's home.

"Nick!" Louis shouts again, back at the front door and pounding on it until her fists ache. "You… you can't. Why… Where'd you go?"

Her voice grows weaker with every word until she's got nothing left. She sinks to her knees and tears start streaming down her face, feeling nothing but defeat. It's a while before she's able to pull herself back up and walk away from Nick's cottage, but she doesn't get far at all before her despair turns into something else entirely.

Unspeakable rage fills her being, and Louis doesn't stop to think before she's pulling out her wand and aiming it at Nick's cottage.

It wasn't her intent, she definitely didn't plan this, but within minutes she's sent over a dozen hexes at the building. The windows shatter, the roof is littered with holes, and there's practically nothing left of the front door.

Louis stops suddenly, breathing heavy as she surveys all the damage she's done. Within seconds, she's filled with regret and absolute horror. How could she have done such a terrible thing?

And that's when she hears Nick's voice behind her. She whirls around, hoping against hope that she's misheard, that Nick isn't actually there to see the horrible thing she did. But Nick's right there, looking back and forth between Louis and her ruined cottage.

"What… did you do?" Nick says with a thick voice.

Louis half expects her to pull out her wand and retaliate; she certainly couldn't blame Nick if she did. But all Nick does is stare at her with absolute confusion.

"I… I'm sorry," Louis whispers so softly that Nick probably doesn't even hear it. There's nothing else she could possibly say that would make this better.

Ashamed, she Disapparates again. This time, she reappears down by the shore behind her house. She sits down by the water and pulls her knees up to her chest, burying her head against them as she silently starts to cry all over again.

_What have I done?_

*

Louis trudges back up to the house after dusk has fallen, feeling very sorry for herself. She hasn't yet figured out how she's going to properly apologize to Nick, if Nick ever speaks to her again. Louis knows that Nick would be well within her rights to never want to see her again after what she's done, but she hopes that her rash actions haven't ruined everything.

The kitchen is dark when Louis opens the back door, but there's light coming in from the living room. It's not until Louis crosses the threshold that she realizes her mum and sisters must be home by now, and she remembers the mess she left in the living room.

"Mum?" Louis calls, her voice cracking slightly. She shuts her eyes and prays that nobody will answer, that she's still alone in the house.

"In here, Louis." Just by the sound of her voice, Louis can tell she's in a heap of trouble.

Jay is alone in the living room. As she stands in the doorway, Louis can't decide if she's relieved that her sisters aren't around, or if that's a mark of just how much trouble she's in. There's a roaring fire going in the fireplace and her mum stands in front of it with her back to Louis.

Louis swallows hard. "Mum…"

Jay spins around and Louis' eyes drop to her hand. It's trembling but Louis can still plainly see her letters from Professor McGonagall clutched in her mum's grip.

"I can explain."

"Can you?" Jay asks, her voice shaking with anger. "Go on, then. Explain to me how you could ever possibly think this is something I'd want you to do."

"Mum, I--"

"I told you no, Louis," Jay interrupts. "When you wrote to me from school, I told you no. I was very clear about how I felt, but--"

"But that was then!" Louis cries. "I'm older now, I'm more experienced, I can--"

"You can't!" Jay shouts. "I told you no!"

"But Professor McGon--"

"I don't care what she said! You're my daughter and you're not doing this!" Jay whips around and chucks all of Louis' letters and research into the fire before Louis can stop her.

"No!" Louis cries out as she runs forward, nearly reaching into the flames before Jay grabs her.

"This is for your own good," she says in a calmer tone, clearly trying to diffuse the tension that's filled the room.

Louis wrenches herself out of her mum's arms and starts shouting, "I'm not a child anymore! Don't you know that?!"

"You're my child, Louis! And I don't want you or your sisters to put yourselves in harm's way!"

"You don't know--"

"I do know!" Jay shouts. "I've seen it happen!"

For a moment, Louis is speechless. Jay sniffs loudly, clearing her throat as she rubs at her eyes.

"There was a girl I knew at school," she says, turning back towards the fire as she speaks. "All she'd ever wanted was to do… to be…" Jay takes a deep breath and shakes her head. "Professor McGonagall told her that she wasn't ready. That she wasn't a strong enough student to do it, but it didn't matter. She tried it anyway."

"What happened?" Louis asks softly.

"What do you think happened?" Jay says, turning back to Louis. "McGonagall was right. The girl almost killed herself in the process, and ended up in St. Mungo's for the rest of her life only half-human." She chokes back a sob, covering her mouth with her hand.

"But, Mum…" Louis starts carefully, "I'm not like your friend. Professor McGonagall thought I could do it when I was in school, so--"

"No," Jay interrupts firmly. "I don't care what she says, you're not doing it."

"Mum--"

"I said no, Louis. Now I've said it twice, and you need to stop this."

"That's not fair," Louis says, her voice turning desperate. "You can't forbid me from doing this, you can't!"

"As long as you live under my roof, you'll live under my rules," Jay says, her anger returning. "And I say no."

"Well, then, I won't live under your roof!" Louis shouts.

"Louis, you don't--" Jay starts, but Louis doesn't hear the rest of it.

She's already Disapparated.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [in case you missed it, there's a fantastic playlist that goes perfectly with this fic.](https://open.spotify.com/user/kciscasey/playlist/0Mtx86y9ymp3JsnESm2tIM?si=jkPIc-1XRE28nkb66ALyCA) **tomlinsong** is the best!

Louis is alone. She's never been alone before. There have been times where she's been on her own for a little while, but nothing like this. She's in the middle of London with nothing but the clothes on her back, her wand in her pocket, and a heart full of anger.

She'd Apparated to the only place she could think of in that split second: Diagon Alley. It wasn't the worst choice she could've made but it's not exactly the best place to be with no money to spend. Her best option is to sit in the Leaky Cauldron while she tries to think of what to do next. It's not like she has a plan; she didn't expect to lose everything in half a second over a stupid argument with her mum.

The anger she feels towards both her mum and Nick (because she's placing half the blame on Nick for not showing up when she was supposed to, obviously) doesn't waver even for a second as the minutes tick by. Louis gets a glass of water from the fellow behind the bar and sips at it as slowly as possible, hoping he won't catch on to the fact that she has no intention of ordering anything that costs real money.

Louis' second biggest problem is that she has no idea where to go. She can't possibly go back to Rosemoor, not after what she did to Nick's cottage and the argument with her mum. For all she knows, the punishment for hexing a house to bits might be getting her wand snapped in two. Louis can't risk that, she just can't.

But if not home, where does she go? She hasn't got any other family to go and stay with, and most of the people she met at Hogwarts probably wouldn't take her in. Unless, of course…

Louis taps her fingers against the wood of the bar and bites her lip as she thinks it over. There is one person who might be willing to give her a place to stay for a bit. The only question is actually _finding_ him.

Her glass is only half-drunk when Louis picks it up and drains the contents entirely. From the other end of the bar Louis can see the barman watching her with a curious look but he doesn't make any movements towards her. She nods at him before sliding off her stool and heading for the back door towards Diagon Alley, but once she's out of sight of the other patrons, she Disapparates.

Seconds later she reappears in the actual literal middle of nowhere in Ireland.

She only has a vague notion of where Niall and his boyfriend live, based off of letters they exchanged months ago. Louis spares a moment to curse herself for not keeping in better touch with one of her best friends from Hogwarts, but shakes it off quickly. There's no sense in dwelling on the past when it certainly won't help her right now.

The village of Farvein is even smaller than Rosemoor, which Louis didn't think was possible. There are several different dirt roads leading out of it but only one main road through it, with a scattered assortment of buildings seemingly haphazardly stuck on either side. Very few seem to have occupants, Louis assumes based on the lack of lights in most windows. She knocks on the door of the first house she comes across with a flickering light over the front stoop, holding her breath as she waits for the door to open.

An elderly man appears on the other side, looking disheveled and a bit haggard but with sharp eyes and a curious twist to his mouth.

"Can I help you?" he asks gruffly.

"I hope so," Louis answers honestly. "You wouldn't happen to know a Niall, would you?"

"Niall Breslin?" he says. "Sure, I do, he's--"

"No, sorry," Louis carefully interrupts, "I'm looking for Niall Horan."

The man laughs heartily and Louis keeps still, utterly bewildered by his response to her correction.

"Two Nialls under one roof," he mutters with another chuckle as he steps out onto the stoop and Louis stumbles back a bit to give him space. "You'll find 'em both if you take the second road on the left, just down there."

"There?" Louis asks, pointing to ensure she's understanding him correctly.

"That's the one." He nods. "Follow it 'til you can't anymore, and you'll find your Niall and his."

Louis thanks the man, who waves her off with a smile before he shuts his door. Louis sets off down through the remainder of the town, turning left on the second road just like she'd been instructed. The road leads her through a thick forest; the trees stand so close to each other that their leaves block out any light that would've come down from overhead.

"Lumos," Louis murmurs softly after taking out her wand, feeling relieved when the path ahead of her lights up.

The forest continues on for ages it seems. Louis starts to wonder if she'll ever reach the other side or if the old man's sent her on a wild goose chase. She's been grumbling to herself about trusting random old men in tiny villages for a good twenty minutes when she finally emerges into open air. Miles and miles of Irish landscape are lit up by the moon and stars overhead, prompting Louis to tuck her wand away again.

The road goes on and on, stretching across the vast open land with no real end in sight. Louis' legs start to tire, and her stomach growls with hunger. If she knew where she was going then she could Apparate there and be done with it, but instead all she can do is keep walking.

"Stupid Niall," she mutters as the road leads her up a steep hill. She stumbles a little, cursing under her breath as she rights herself. "Living out in the middle of stupid nowhere."

Louis is breathing hard by the time she reaches the top of the hill, and she pauses with her hands on her knees so she can try and catch her breath. It's mostly back to normal by the time she straightens up and wipes the back of her hand across her forehead, and that's when she finally sees her destination.

She takes off at a run, gaining her second wind with the rush of excitement that comes from seeing the end of a long road. At the bottom of the hill there's a fence with a gate separating the road from the edge of the property, with a large wooden sign overhead. Louis pauses for a moment to read it, smiling as she sees _Niall & Niall: Kneazle Breeders_ etched into the dark wood.

The gate opens with a gentle push, and Louis sets off at a sprint towards what she assumes to be the main house. She doesn't stop to inspect any of the smaller houses scattered around the path leading her further, too focused on finally reaching the end of her journey. Not to mention, if Niall _does_ let her stay, she's almost positive he'll be more than happy to give her a proper tour.

Louis pauses before ringing the doorbell and quickly attempts to brush all the dirt from her clothes and smooth her hair down so she looks at least somewhat presentable. She takes one more moment to gather herself before she presses the bell, and waits.

A minute passes, then another and another. Louis' heart starts to pound and she's stricken with the fear that nobody's home, or that they've already gone to bed for the night. She turns away from the door as tears start to fill her eyes and a feeling of panic washes over her. What's she going to do now? This was her only plan, her one shot.

She freezes when she hears the creak of the door behind her and she quickly turns back around. A heavy sigh of relief comes whooshing out at the familiar sight of Niall, a little bleary-eyed and definitely surprised, but warm and inviting nevertheless.

"Lou?" he says with a laugh as he rubs one of his eyes. "What're you doing here?"

"Hi," she says, laughing a bit as a few tears fall. "It's, uhh, it's a long story."

Niall's silent for a moment before he pushes the door aside and gestures for her to come inside. Louis doesn't even make it past the threshold before he's pulled her into a hug.

*

Louis meets Niall's Niall (who insists on being called Bressie to avoid confusion, which Louis is very relieved to learn) the following morning, and he too pulls her into a massive hug. She's grateful to be received by both of them with open arms rather than confusion at her showing up at such a late hour.

"So," Niall says as the three of them sit down to breakfast. Louis eyes the Kneazle curled up at the far end of the table, but neither Niall nor Bressie pay it any mind. "What brings you all the way out here, then?"

The Kneazle opens one eye and stares directly at Louis. She looks down at her plate and pokes her breakfast with the fork in her hand.

"It's a long story," she says hesitantly.

"All the more reason to start now," Niall says, smiling brightly as he begins eating.

Louis takes a deep breath and begins by telling Niall and Bressie about her letters to McGonagall, and how desperately she wants to learn to be an Animagus. Just like he had been back at Hogwarts, Niall is over the moon about the idea.

"I just think it's so cool," Niall says as Bressie gives him a fond look.

"I know you do, love."

Louis twists her mouth in a smile as memories of her and Niall's days at Hogwarts flood back into her mind. He'd always spend his spare time down with the Care of Magical Creatures professor, Hagrid, talking his ear off about all sorts of animals. It's no surprise at all that Niall breeds Kneazles for a living, although Louis thought maybe he would've gone for something a little more unusual.

Like dragons, or something.

"Anyway," Niall says, cutting off his tangent about what sort of animal they'd all be if they could be one. "Sorry, you were saying?"

"Well, umm," Louis swallows hard, "you remember the reaction my mum had back at school, yeah?"

Niall's face falls.

"Yeah," Louis says, laughing awkwardly. "That's about as well as it went this time around, too."

Niall and Bressie stay quiet as Louis explains everything that happened, minus Nick. She leaves Nick out of the story entirely, for reasons she can't quite figure out. Somehow that wound is even worse than the one left by the argument with her mum, and Louis just can't talk about it.

"It's only been a day," Niall reasons after Louis' finished, "you could just go back home if you wanted."

Louis shakes her head. "You didn't see the look on Mum's face."

"She's just being a mum," Bressie adds. "She's worried you'll hurt yourself, is all."

"She doesn't think I can do it," Louis says.

"I don't think--" Niall starts, but Louis barrels on.

"She thinks I'll end up like her friend, or--"

"Lou, I'm sure--"

"--that I'll blow myself up or something!"

"That doesn't…" Bressie tries, but Louis doesn't stop.

"She still thinks I'm a child! I have to show her that I'm not! That I'm smarter and stronger, that I _can_ do this!"

"Alright," Niall says in a placating tone. Louis laughs nervously, realizing in her stupor she'd gotten to her feet. She slowly sits back down and folds her hands in her lap while Niall and Bressie share a quick and quiet conversation between the two of them.

She half expects them to insist on her immediate return to Rosemoor. It wouldn't be much of a surprise, really, given the looks on both of their faces as she was telling the story. Maybe if she told them about Nick, they'd let her stay. Or maybe that would just make it worse and they'd latch onto her and force her back to Rosemoor through Side-Along Apparition.

Louis is so swept up in her own thoughts, trying desperately to come up with a number of reasons why she just _can't_ go back to Rosemoor, that she doesn't even realize when Niall's speaking to her again until he waves his hand in front of her face.

"Sorry," she says sheepishly. "What did you say?"

"Brez and I talked it over," Niall says, nodding his head towards Bressie. Louis darts her eyes to him for a moment, seeing the same warm smile that's on Niall's face. "You're welcome to stay with us for as long as you like."

In that moment, Louis feels like she could cry.

"Really?"

"Yeah!" Niall laughs. "We've got loads of space, it's not--"

Louis launches herself out of her chair and wraps her arms tightly around Niall, knocking into the table and startling the Kneazle so much it shrieks loudly and jumps down. Louis apologizes profusely, but then does it all over again when she goes to hug Bressie too.

"Don't worry about it," Bressie says, gesturing towards the Kneazle that's now curled up on another chair, "he's spoiled, he is. Shouldn't have been on the bloody table in the first place."

"Leave him be," Niall says, "he's recuperating."

Bressie rolls his eyes, and when Niall's back is turned, he gives Louis an exaggerated wink.

"C'mon now, finish your breakfast." Niall ushers Louis back to her original seat. "Then we'll give you a tour of the place."

Louis settles back into her seat and breathes a sigh of relief. In that moment she forgets all about the mess she left behind in Rosemoor. Her mum, Nick, even Harry, they all disappear along with her worries about what was going to happen next. For now, she's safe and with people who care about her.

In this moment, she doesn't have to think about all the people she left behind.

*

Now that Louis has all the time in the world to concentrate on the process of becoming an Animagus, she finds it even more difficult to start. For a while she has the excuse of needing to compile all the necessary research she'd lost before she can properly get started. She sends owls back and forth with Professor McGonagall for a few weeks, feeling somewhat ashamed of herself when she has to explain that she's starting over from scratch.

Thankfully, Professor McGonagall doesn't say "I told you so."

A month passes before Louis has a full set of instructions, including the list of ingredients she'll need for the Animagus potion itself. It's a rather simple potion, only needing five ingredients, but there are a few caveats for some of them that increase the difficulty tenfold.

The most difficult, of course, is a Mandrake leaf soaked in the drinker's mouth for a full month. If the leaf is removed or swallowed over the course of the month, then she has to start over. If the full moon at the end of the month isn't visible, then it's all been for naught.

But once Louis gets past that agonizing month, then the real waiting begins. In order to finish the process, she has to wait for an electrical storm.

"You picked a terrible place to do this," Niall said when Louis showed him the instructions. "Thunderstorms are few and far between here."

Frustrating as it may be, Louis isn't going to let a little thing like a rare thunderstorm drag her down. She's had her heart set on this for too long to give up now.

As expected, the soaking of the Mandrake leaf is an absolutely and absurdly difficult task to complete. It takes several tries for Louis to make it an entire month without losing a leaf. The first try was thwarted after only a few days when an owl from Harry showed up and Louis nearly choked on the leaf. Niall forced her to spit it out to prevent any actual choking, and while Louis was relieved to not suffocate herself, she was seriously annoyed that now she had to wait a full three weeks before she could try again.

Harry's letter certainly didn't help matters, either. It was dated well over a month ago, and judging by the state of the owl when it arrived, finding Louis had been quite the journey.

_Louis,_

_Where've you gone? I went by your house and your mum said you Disapparated. She wouldn't tell me why, and she barely even let me in the house. What's happened? Why did you leave without saying goodbye?_

_Please, answer me._

_x Harry_

Louis doesn't realize she's crying until a tear hits the parchment and the ink bleeds. She crumples it up into a ball and throws it as hard as she can before storming off into the house, leaving Niall utterly bewildered.

She never writes back.

The days pass into weeks, and another month goes by before another letter from Harry arrives. Louis doesn't even read this one before she crumples it up and throws it away. She knows Harry's just going to keep asking her questions she doesn't want to answer. There's no good excuse for her behavior.

Over the course of six months, four different letters from Harry show up. Louis doesn't reply to a single one.

Niall and Bressie give her the space she needs, but it doesn't stop them from worrying about her. Bressie doesn't know Louis very well at all and as a result, he looks to Niall for confirmation that she's really doing alright. For Bressie's sake (because sometimes his heart is just a little too big for his chest) Niall tells him this is just how she deals with things sometimes, and that she'll come around when she's ready.

What Niall doesn't tell him is that he's afraid that Louis isn't going to come around. That maybe there's no coming back from the funk that she's in, and he has no idea what to do about it.

He tries to help as best he can. When she shows an interest in learning about their business, he eagerly offers to have Brez show her around. Her mood seems to pick up when she's around the Kneazles, so Niall encourages her to spend as much time with them as she likes.

The most noticeable change in her mood comes whenever an owl appears on the horizon with a letter. He doesn't even have to check the envelopes to know who they're from; he remembers well enough how persistent Harry was back in their Hogwarts days, and can only imagine it's gotten worse over the years.

After the fourth letter, when it's absolutely clear that Louis has no desire to contact Harry, Niall starts intercepting the rest. He doesn't read them, he doesn't destroy them, he simply puts them in a box and asks Bressie to keep the box somewhere Louis won't find it.

"You're sure this is the right thing to do, love?" Bressie asks, holding the box gently but looking down at it with wary eyes.

"She'll come around eventually," Niall says, unsure whether he's trying to convince himself or Bressie. "And when she does, she'll want to read them."

Bressie presses a kiss to the top of Niall's head as he passes, and Niall takes a deep breath.

He just wants Louis to be okay.

*

Louis hates waiting. She's been waiting for a thunderstorm for nearly three months now, having completed the first part of the Animagus process. Every day she visits the place where she's hidden the vial containing the Mandrake leaf, dew, Death's-head Hawk Moth chrysalis, and a single strand of her own hair. She doesn't check to see if it's still there, because one of the mandates of the process is that the vial must be kept in a quiet, dark place where it won't be disturbed.

Given that the place she chose is in a deserted corner of Niall and Bressie's property, she highly doubts anyone else has disturbed it so she certainly won't be the one to do so and ruin her own hard work.

But now that all that's left is to wait and chant "Amato, Animo, Animato, Animagus" twice a day at sunrise and sundown, Louis doesn't know what to do with herself.

She's grateful for the distractions that Niall and Bressie provide; giving her tasks to do around the compound and letting her play with the Kneazles whenever she likes. They all help her to keep her thoughts at bay. But when it gets dark and everyone else has gone to sleep, Louis lies awake in her bed and she wonders.

Louis wonders what her sisters are up to at Hogwarts. Whether they're doing well or struggling with some of their lessons. Do they write home every week asking if she's come back? Or do they too lie awake at night, cursing her for leaving in the first place?

Louis wonders if her mum is doing alright on her own. She hasn't had an empty house in ages. Does she relish in the solitude or does she feel overwhelmingly lonely?

Louis wonders if Harry's given up on her completely. Has he found a new best friend to pester day in and day out? Has he found someone who will listen as he rambles on and on about muggles and their quirks?

And then, Louis wonders about Nick. She wonders if Nick's even still in Rosemoor after what she did. Has she rebuilt her cottage or left it to rubble? Would she ever understand why Louis did what she did, if Louis could explain?

But Louis doesn't know how to explain. There's no good excuse for what she did, even as a reaction to Nick's sudden disappearance. Louis knows what she did was absolutely and unequivocally wrong. Nick deserves an apology for it.

Louis just doesn't think she'd be able to give one without Nick slamming the door in her face.

The worst part is, Louis forces herself to suffer in silence. She doesn't tell Niall or Bressie anything about Nick. She already sees the way they look at her when they think she isn't paying attention; the pity and sadness in their eyes. If she told them what she did to Nick, they wouldn't understand.

She already lost one home. She can't bear to lose another.

*

Just over a week into June, Louis catches a lucky break. She's spending the day as she normally does, looking after her favorite of all the Kneazles while Niall and Brez go about their duties, when suddenly it begins to rain.

At first, Louis doesn't even notice. It starts as a light mist, then turns into a sprinkle. But when the raindrops get bigger and start coming down heavier, Louis hears something she's been waiting months for.

She hears thunder.

Her hands shake as she pulls her wand out of her pocket, but in a matter of seconds she's standing outside the cave where she left the vial for safekeeping. She stands in the opening for a moment, watching the rain fall as more thunder rolls overhead. A sudden flash lights up the sky and she lets out a joyful laugh. It's finally happened.

But the real moment of truth comes when Louis retrieves the vial from its hiding place. She closes her eyes as she reaches for it, wishing and praying that the mixture has turned blood red after the bolt of lightning struck. If it hasn't, then it's all been for naught.

Louis opens her eyes and exhales sharply when she sees the vial.

"I did it," she whispers, almost in disbelief. "I fucking did it."

She holds the vial tightly in her hand as she exits the cave, remembering McGonagall's advice to take the potion in an open area. There's no telling what she'll feel in this new body of hers, and it's best not to be trapped in an enclosed space.

"Here goes," Louis says to herself as she opens the vial and pours it into her open mouth. As soon as she swallows it, she feels an intense pain in her chest and her heart starts to race.

For few seconds, she's absolutely terrified that she's done something wrong. But then the shape of a fox appears in her mind and suddenly her view of the world around her changes.

She's turned into a fox.

There's an overwhelming feeling of happiness flowing through Louis as she runs around in her new Animagus form, jumping over rocks and darting between fence posts just because she can. She's amazed at her speed in this form, seeming to go twice as far across the compound in half the time. Rain's still falling from the sky but she can hardly even feel it.

Niall's standing under the canopy on the front porch when Louis reaches the house, and he jumps nearly a foot in the air when she materializes in front of him. She's absolutely drenched from head to toe but she throws her arms around Niall anyway, too ecstatic to even care about getting him wet.

"Where did you--"

"I did it!" she shouts, interrupting his question. "Niall, I did it! Watch!"

Niall stares as Louis transforms herself back into a fox, running circles around his ankles before turning back into a human.

"You did it!" Niall shouts, joining in on her celebration. The pair of them make such a commotion that Bressie hears them clear across the compound, eventually piquing his curiosity enough that he comes back to the house earlier than he normally would.

Louis proudly shows off her brand new talent, to the delight of both Niall and Bressie this time around. She spends the rest of the afternoon roaming around the whole of the compound in her fox form, playing around with the Kneazles and exploring all the nooks and crannies she hadn't noticed before.

Later that night, after Niall and Bressie have retired to bed, Louis sits in her room with a fresh piece of parchment and a quill. She stares at the blank page for some time before she dips the quill into a bottle of ink and, after taking a deep breath, begins writing.

_Professor McGonagall,_

_I've done it. After months and months of waiting, it's finally happened. I'm an Animagus!_

_I can't even begin to thank you enough for all of the help you gave me, I never could've done this without you. I wish there was some way in which I could give you something in return to show how truly grateful I am._

_Hopefully someday I'll be able to repay you for everything you've done for me._

_Sincerely, Louis Tomlinson_

Louis stares at the parchment, watching the ink dry as she reads over the words she's written. It doesn't quite do her excitement justice, but then again, she isn't sure there would be a way to express that without including several choice words she would never even _dream_ of using around Professor McGonagall. Still, she's absolutely certain that there are very few people in the whole of the world who understands exactly how she's feeling, and that she's blessed beyond belief to be able to write to one of them.

As she rolls the parchment up with the intent of sending it off in the morning, she pauses for a brief moment. The memory of Harry's letters crosses her mind and her excitement wavers.

He may not fully understand, but Louis knows that he'd be just as proud and excited as both Niall and Bressie were earlier. Louis should write to him, she _should_.

But she doesn't.

She can't.

Louis crawls into bed and shuts her eyes tight as she draws the covers tightly around her, wishing she could slip back into the happiness she felt instead of falling back into the rabbit hole of misery over missing what she pushed away.

*

Excitement builds around the farm in the weeks following Louis' success. It's partially because of her but it's mostly to do with the finals of the Quidditch World Cup quickly approaching. Both Niall and Bressie are _obsessed_ with Quidditch, so much that they take to carrying radios around the compound with them so as to not miss a moment of Cup coverage.

Louis enjoys Quidditch about as much as the next wizard, but even she gets a little tired of it after several weeks of hearing about nothing other than Quidditch. (It was a lucky thing she completed her Animagus transformation on a day when there was no match, otherwise she may not have even been noticed by Niall nor Bressie.)

The light at the end of the tunnel is nearing ever closer, all she has to do is wait. Louis finds herself looking forward to when Niall and Bressie are due to leave the compound in order to attend the final matches. They haven't quite discussed it yet, leaving her alone with all the Kneazles, but she's been around long enough that she feels completely confident in being able to take care of them while they're away.

But with just two days before their departure, Louis starts to wonder whether they'll actually give her any instructions or if they'll leave her to handle them in a trial by fire.

If that happens, Louis may very well just remain a fox until Niall and Bressie return and then stick by her rationale by claiming they should've prepared her better. It's not an ideal plan, but Louis doesn't tend to resort to good plans when left in a last-minute panic.

In an effort to trigger their more helpful sides, Louis steers the supper conversation towards proper Kneazle care. She stares down at her plate while she does so, and as a result she misses the wildly confused looks that both Niall and Bressie give her.

"What're you talking about, Lou?" Niall asks, interrupting her once it becomes clear that she isn't going to look up.

Louis clears her throat and starts to backpedal. "Well, you know, if I'm going to be left here on my own, I ought to know how to--"

"What d'you mean, left here on your own?" Bressie asks with a chuckle. He turns to Niall. "Love, I thought you were going to tell her."

"I wanted it to be a surprise," Niall hisses before quickly turning back to Louis. "We're not leaving you here, Lou."

"You're not?" Louis blinks. "But--"

"You're coming with us, of course!" Niall laughs heartily. "Did you really think we'd fuck off to the Cup finals and leave you here all by your lonesome?"

Louis' cheeks flush. "Maybe…"

Both Niall and Bressie burst into uproarious laughter.

"Please," Niall says as he gets up from his chair and throws his arms around Louis. "If we left you here, we'd come back to absolute shambles."

"Ta, very much," Louis replies dryly. She flicks the underside of Niall's chin before he pulls away, but sends a smile Bressie's way.

Later that night, Louis overhears the pair speaking in hushed voices. She wouldn't have thought anything of it apart from the fact that she hears her name specifically, and that piques her interest.

"You should've told her," Bressie says.

"If I told her, she wouldn't come. You know that."

"But what if we get there and she sees--"

But Louis doesn't find out what she might see, because at that moment Niall hushes Bressie and the door to their room closes with a snick. Louis stands in her own doorway for a good minute or so, trying to think of what they could _possibly_ be hiding from her.

She has every intention of lying awake in bed, turning this curious quandary over and over in her head until she solves it, but instead she finds herself falling asleep almost immediately after putting her head to the pillow.

And in the morning, the overheard conversation is completely forgotten.

Truth be told, it doesn't even cross Louis' mind late the following morning when she's trudging along behind Niall and Bressie as they make their way to the location of the Portkey that will take them to Argentina, where the Cup is being held.

"Couldn't they have placed one nearer?" she grumbles as she takes a moment to catch her breath.

"We've been walking for five minutes," Niall says, glancing back at her over his shoulder. "C'mon, we're nearly there."

Louis groans loudly as she starts walking again. Despite it being almost midday, it feels as though she's only just woken up. Louis had spent most of the night before trying to figure out how to pack for the Cup. It's a near-impossible event to pack for, given that nobody knows how long it'll actually go on for.

Around three in the morning she ended up magicking everything she owned into a rucksack and fell into bed, only to be woken up three hours later by Niall and Bressie bumbling around in excitement.

It's going to be a very long day for Louis.

The Portkey is an empty barrel on the edge of a forest several miles outside of Killarney, and Louis is surprised to see a small group of wizards gathered around it when they approach. Some of them appear to know Niall and Bressie, which doesn't surprise Louis at all, and she musters up the meagerest of pleasantries so as to not embarrass them.

Within an hour, they've made it to the campgrounds outside of the makeshift stadium and once again, Louis lags behind.

Niall and Bressie aren't too far up ahead of her; Bressie's already setting up the tent in their assigned campsite and Niall's rummaging through his own rucksack for the sandwiches he'd packed earlier in the morning. Louis glances around at the other campsites, overhearing the excited chatter amongst friends and families, and suddenly she remembers the scraps of the conversation she'd heard.

"Niall?" Louis calls out as she approaches the newly set up tent. Niall sticks his head out between the front flaps and smiles widely at her.

"Don't get lost, now," he jokes. "C'mon in!"

"Wait," she says, catching him before he slips back into the tent. "There's something I want to ask you."

"What is it?" Niall steps out of the tent, coming towards her as Louis gathers her nerve.

"The other night… I heard you and Brez." Louis takes a deep breath.

Niall's ears turn red. "Did you? I told Brez to fix that fuckin' creaky bed, but--"

"Merlin's beard, _no_ ," Louis groans, "not like that, Niall!"

"You mean--" Niall turns even redder. "Forget I said anything!"

"Just let me speak!" Louis huffs. "You said something about me. About how I wouldn't have come if you told me… something."

Niall swallows hard and avoids Louis' eye.

"Niall, what didn't you tell me?"

"I was going to, but…" Niall sighs heavily, still not looking Louis in the eye. "I just, I knew you'd say no, so I thought it was better this way."

"What's better this way? Niall, what did you do?"

Niall doesn't answer. He doesn't have to. Not a minute later, Louis hears a voice say her name and she turns around to find Harry standing a few feet away with a hesitant smile on his face.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" she says. Her voice trembles as she speaks and the smile on Harry's face wavers.

"I… Niall invited me." Harry looks briefly to Niall and then back at Louis. "He told me you wanted me to come, that you'd explain everything and--"

Louis whirls around to face Niall. "He did _what_?"

"This is for your own good, Lou."

"I didn't ask for your help!" she hisses.

"Oh, c'mon," Niall sighs, "I let you hide away, alright? I gave you space, I waited for you to open up-- don't give me that look!"

"It's none of your business!" Louis shouts.

"You made it my business!" Niall shouts back. "You made it my business when you showed up on my doorstep in the middle of the night!"

"Then why didn't you tell me to leave?! If I'm such a fucking burden, why not tell me to just get out?!"

"For Merlin's sake," Niall mutters as he rubs his eyes. "You're not a burden! I just can't sit idly by anymore! I had to do something!"

"No you didn't! You should've just left well enough alone!"

Niall drops his shoulders and sighs heavily. "Why do you insist on isolating yourself?"

"I'm not--"

"You are! That's what you did by coming to me. You knew I wouldn't ask questions, you knew I'd leave you be until you were ready. But the joke was on me, wasn't it? You're never going to _be_ ready, because you're the most stubborn person I've ever known!" Niall takes a deep breath and Louis steels her jaw defiantly despite the tears springing to her eyes. "Don't you see the problem, Lou? You ran away. You abandoned your family, you abandoned Harry, and for what? To come live with me and Brez? That's not the life you wanted for yourself, and you know it."

"You don't--" Louis' voice breaks and she tries to clear her throat. "I wasn't-- I didn't _abandon_ them."

"You did, though," Harry says softly.

Louis drops her eyes to the ground but doesn't turn to face Harry. She can't bring herself to do it. Instead she slowly reaches for her wand, already imagining her destination inside her head because there’s no way she’s going to stay here after all of this. But before she can Apparate, Harry speaks again.

"Your mum's been a wreck, Lou," he continues, "she tried to hold it together for the sake of the girls, but once they all went off to Hogwarts, everyone knew. I tried going 'round as often as I could but she stopped opening the door. Said it was too painful to even look at me."

Louis sniffs loudly and foregoes getting her wand in order to rub furiously at her eyes, and then drops her arm back down to her side. She can’t Apparate, not now.

"I wrote to Lottie, but she didn't know why you left either. All she said was one minute you were there and the next, you were gone. Why'd you do it, Lou? Why'd you leave without saying goodbye?"

There's a long silence, during which Louis tries to come up with something, _anything_ , to say. Neither Harry nor Niall say a word, and the longer Louis goes without speaking the less she thinks she'll ever be able to say anything at all.

The one who inevitably breaks the silence turns out to be Bressie with a simple clearing of his throat. It's in that moment that Louis realizes they've been having this shouting match in the middle of the bloody campgrounds and have gathered quite the audience around them.

"Perhaps we should take this inside?" Bressie suggests as he pulls back one of the tent flaps. Niall's the first to go, followed by Harry after a few seconds of hesitation. Louis waits until they've both disappeared inside the tent before she lets herself move.

She pauses at the entrance and Bressie places a steady hand on her shoulder. He doesn't say anything but the simple gesture is encouraging enough that Louis finds it in herself to take the last few steps to enter the tent.

There's a hundred things for Louis to marvel at inside the tent but she can't bring herself to look at a single one. She's too mixed up in her own head to even consider acknowledging anything else at the moment; where is she ever going to begin?

Niall and Bressie sit down on one of the sofas in the center of the tent while Harry opts for one of the armchairs, while Louis remains standing on the outskirts. She's contemplating Disapparating again but there's a part of her that's holding her back, a voice that's telling her it's time to stop running away.

The silence inside the tent is deafening. Finally, Niall turns around and offers Louis a smile as he gestures for her to come closer. His angry words are still ringing in Louis' ears but it's a relief to see the small peace offering. She steps forward but before she gets too far, the fear is back.

"Just start at the beginning, Lou," Niall whispers. He holds out his hand for Louis to take. 

_It's now or never_ , that voice inside Louis' head whispers back. Louis takes Niall's hand and squeezes tightly.

"Alright," she says with a shaky voice as she finally lets herself look at Harry. "It's not the beginning, but I think you'll understand more if I just…"

"If you just…" Harry starts to say, but he's speechless within seconds after Louis turns into her Animagus form right before his eyes.

It's almost like a security blanket at this point, being in her fox form. Louis' insecurities and fears melt away as she darts around the tent, bounding from one surface to another despite Bressie's groaning. After a few minutes she curls up in the empty armchair next to Harry's, and a few seconds later she's back to her normal self.

"You… you're…"

"Yeah," Louis says sheepishly as Harry struggles to find his words. "I'm an Animagus."

"That's amazing!" Harry says with eyes wide from excitement. It wavers after a moment, when realization hits and Harry's face falls. "Wait… but your mum."

"Yeah," Louis repeats, her voice much more somber. "Turns out she still felt the same about it as she did when we were all at Hogwarts."

Harry's mouth turns even further down into a frown and Louis fidgets uncomfortably. It's not the whole story, it's not even a _fraction_ of the story. The voice in her head telling her to be honest is practically screaming now; if Louis ever wants peace again she's got to just let it all out.

"There's something else I have to tell you," she says. "Something that helps to explain how my mum found out about this."

"What is it?" Harry asks patiently. "You can tell me anything, Lou, you know that."

"Remember… Nick?" Louis asks hesitantly. She's staring down at her feet again to avoid looking at literally anyone else in the room. Niall and Bressie know nothing of Nick, and Louis doesn't know if Harry's even spoken to Nick apart from the one time in the market.

Harry's puzzled look tells Louis all she needs to know, but she still waits for him to say something before she continues.

"What's she got to do with this?" he asks.

Louis bites her bottom lip and whines softly as she starts fidgeting again. _You can do this, you have to do this_ , the voice inside her head urges.

It's a long and painstaking process, telling the whole story. Louis starts from the very beginning, when she and her sisters took Nick the welcome basket. She can barely look at any of them but she continues to tell them absolutely every detail that led up to her leaving Rosemoor.

Her eyes well up with tears when she gets to the part involving Nick's house, and soon after she's full on crying as she tells them how her mum reacted upon finding all of her Animagus research. As much as she feels embarrassed and ashamed for admitting all of it, she also feels like a great weight has been lifted from her shoulders once she's finished.

"I've been with Niall and Bressie ever since." Louis gathers the courage to look at Harry, and as soon as their eyes meet more tears start flowing. "I wanted to answer your letters, but I couldn't. I just couldn't. I didn't want to tell you all the terrible things I'd done."

"I didn't even know anything had happened to Nick's house," Harry says.

Louis blinks through her tears. "What?"

"I never heard even a whisper about it. You'd think a scandal like that would've spread like wildfire through Rosemoor," he goes on. "Like, she caught you. Why didn't she do anything?"

"I dunno." Louis swallows hard. "I mean, I left right after. Maybe she…"

It's a sobering thought that crosses Louis' mind. What if Nick had gone to her mum's house after she'd Disapparated? Would Nick have told her mum about the destruction she'd caused?

But then again, if Harry hadn't heard anything about it at all then maybe Nick never said a word. Louis knows better than anyone how many gossips there are in that tiny village, surely someone would've said _something_ if they'd heard. Why would Nick have kept it to herself?

"Maybe she didn't want to stir up more trouble," Niall offers.

Both Harry and Louis turn to look at him and he shrugs his shoulders.

"Just thinking out loud, is all. But Harry did say your mum was a wreck after you left, yeah?"

Louis swallows down another sob and nods silently.

"Maybe Nick got it in her head that it was her fault too? That if she hadn't disappeared on you without an explanation, then you wouldn't have destroyed her house and left town?"

Louis blinks. Harry clears his throat and she turns to him.

"He's got a bit of a point, I think. That is…" Harry holds up his hands. "It's still very much your fault, seeing as how you're the one who hexed her house to bits."

"Merlin," Louis mumbles, covering her face with her hands. "Everything is so messed up and it's all my fault."

There's a shuffling sound and suddenly Louis' hands are being pried away from her face. She opens her eyes to see Niall and Harry both crouched in front of her, each one holding one of her hands in their own.

"Do you think maybe it's time for you to go home?" Niall asks. "To try and set things right?"

Before Louis can say a word, Harry chimes in.

"Your family needs you, Lou. I need you, too. We've all missed you terribly."

"But what if--" Louis' voice cracks. "What if Nick doesn't forgive me? What if mum and the girls won't even _look_ at me?"

"They're your family," Harry reassures her. "They'll always love you no matter what, you know that."

"In the very slim chance it doesn't work out," Niall says, "you're always welcome to live with me and Brez and the Kneazles."

Louis laughs through her tears, glancing over at Bressie for a moment to see him smiling back at her.

"Alright," she says after a few minutes of silence. "I'll go."

Niall whoops loudly and Harry wraps his arms around Louis in a hug, squeezing her tightly like he's trying to make up for all the hugs she's gone without over the last year. Niall takes his turn next, but when he pulls away he puts his hands on her shoulders and his face turns serious.

"Not til after the Cup, though. We're all here, and we're going to have a bloody great time."

Louis laughs a little louder than before, finally feeling a bit more joy in her heart than she has in a while. Niall grins broadly at her as he rubs his hands together and claps once.

"Now! Who's hungry?"

*

The thing about attending the Quidditch World Cup with diehard fans is that it meant Louis and Harry unknowingly signed up to attend not just the final match but the semi-finals as well. Or, as it turned out, they would usually stay in the tent while Niall and Bressie went off to watch the matches.

At first Louis thought there'd be an awkwardness between herself and Harry that would be difficult to overcome, even after they'd aired everything out. Even after explaining herself she was overwhelmingly worried that Harry was harboring hatred towards her because she'd abandoned him without saying goodbye.

This of course was utterly ridiculous, and oddly enough Harry was worried exactly the same. This all came out only about ten minutes after Niall and Bressie left for the first semi-final match, leaving Harry and Louis alone for the first time in over a year.

Harry was the first to say anything about it, having been fidgeting like mad up until the words burst out of his mouth. After a few seconds of processing what Harry said, Louis ended up laughing hysterically for a few minutes straight.

"What?" Harry asked. "What??"

"You thought I--" Louis paused to laugh some more. "I thought _you_ hated _me_!"

Once he was let in on the joke, Harry started laughing right along with her. After that, it was like no time at all had passed. By the time Niall and Bressie returned (the match having lasted well through the night and into the following morning), Louis and Harry were thick as thieves all over again.

Over the next few days they swap stories of what's happened over the past year; Louis details the entire process of becoming an Animagus while Harry has odd and eclectic tales from their beloved hometown. But there's something different about him that Louis can't quite pinpoint. That is, until he reveals that Nick isn't the newest addition to Rosemoor any longer.

"His name is Liam," Harry says, his cheeks already turning pink. "He works at the market with me and he's a bit shy but we went to festival together!"

"Oh?" Louis blinks a little at the wealth of information Harry is giving her about Liam, and she can't help it. Her mind starts to wander and she finds herself thinking about Nick.

Harry continues on, telling Louis all sorts of strange facts about Liam and wondering aloud whether Liam just likes him as a friend or if there's something more there, completely oblivious to the fact that Louis isn't really listening anymore. But as the minutes pass, Louis' smile slowly slips into a frown without her realizing it, and that's what grabs Harry's attention.

"Lou?" he asks, concerned. "What's wrong?"

"What? Nothing," she answers quickly, trying to school her face into something resembling happiness. It doesn't work.

Harry frowns. "Louis. Tell me."

"I was just…" Louis sighs. "I was thinking about Nick."

"Oh Lou-- Should I not have said anything about Liam? I didn't mean to make you feel--"

"No, Haz, no." Louis takes his hand and squeezes it. "I want to hear about Liam, I do. I didn't mean to stop listening, I just…"

"Couldn't help it?" Harry smiles ruefully.

"Sorry."

"It's alright, Lou." Harry squeezes her hand in return. "You're worried about seeing her again, I get it."

Louis sighs heavily. She pauses as she opens her mouth to say something, momentarily wondering if she should just shut up and let Harry tell her about Liam again. She didn't mean to turn this all around and make it about her, especially after she's been so selfish already. But the smile on Harry's face tells her that he's alright with putting his stories on hold for now, that he knows she needs her best friend to just listen.

"What if--" Louis' voice catches. "I really liked her, Haz."

"I know."

"I fucked up."

"You did."

Louis swats Harry's hand lightly. "That's not helping."

"It's true!" Harry chuckles lightly and puts his arm around Louis' shoulders. "You just have to own it, Lou. You know what you did is wrong, and you know you have to apologize."

"But what if--"

"If she doesn't give you the chance, that's one thing," Harry interrupts gently. "But if she does, and you apologize, then it's out of your hands. She doesn't have to forgive you, and if she doesn't, then you have to accept that."

Louis frowns and slumps against him, resting her head on his shoulder. "That's shit."

"Yeah," Harry says softly. "But if she likes you back, and I think she does, then maybe it won't be as bad as you think it might be. Maybe she'll just be glad to see you again and you can both leave the past behind you."

"You think so?" Louis tips her head back and Harry smiles down at her.

"Anything's possible."

Louis rolls her eyes.

"It's true!"

"You're an idiot." Louis wraps her arms around Harry and hugs him tightly. "I missed you."

"I missed you too," Harry says as he hugs her back. "Do you feel better?"

"A little." Louis sighs. "I don't think I can feel _totally_ better until…"

"Until you go home?"

"Yeah."

"And make things right?"

Louis rolls her eyes again. "Yes, Harold."

"I think that'll help too," he says, ignoring her petulant tone. "And I'll be there, obviously. If you need me."

"I definitely think I will." Louis hums softly and they sit quietly for a while, simply enjoying each other's company.

In the silence, Louis wonders what Nick's doing at that very moment. Maybe she's sitting in her kitchen with a cup of tea and she's wondering what Louis is doing. It's a nice thought, hoping that Nick's thinking about her the same way she's thinking about Nick. Even if it takes a hundred years, Louis is going to make this right.

"Okay," Louis says as she pulls herself away from Harry and sits up straight. "Tell me about Liam again. I'll listen this time, promise."

Harry beams widely.


	3. Chapter 3

By the end of the Quidditch World Cup, Louis and the others had spent nearly three weeks in Argentina. Louis had learned a great deal about this Liam that Harry was so infatuated with, including that Harry truly believed he'd gone and mucked everything up with him. It took several nights of being drunk off Firewhiskey for Louis to get it through his head that just because Liam didn't come to the Cup with him didn't mean _everything was hopeless_.

Once Louis sorted out her own mess back home, she was going to fix whatever had gone wrong between the two of them.

As for the actual reason they'd all traveled to Argentina, the final match ended up lasting for several days (during which Niall and Bressie refused to leave the stadium just in case the Snitch was caught!) and everyone seemed to be overwhelmingly relieved when it was over.

It hit Louis as she was packing up her rucksack: she wasn't going back to Ireland with Niall and Bressie. It was time for her to go home, to go back to Rosemoor and face the consequences and all the people she left behind.

Harry is a continuous source of comfort and reassurance, and Louis is extremely thankful for it. If she had to go back to Rosemoor entirely on her own there's a very good chance that it would never, ever happen. She doesn't know _what_ is going to happen when she has to talk to her mum one on one, or when she tries to go see Nick…

"You're doing it again," Niall says. Louis snaps out of her thoughts and realizes that he's standing right next to her and she has no memory of his approach.

"Doing what?" she asks as she resumes stuffing her clothes into her rucksack.

"Going all spacey." Louis turns to give him a pointed look and notices that he's got his hands behind his back.

"What've you got?"

"Something for you," Niall says hesitantly. "I wasn't sure if you'd want them, but since they're yours I thought I'd let you figure out what to do with them now."

"What are they?" Louis asks, but before she can even finish the sentence, Niall pulls a small box from behind his back and holds it out to her.

Louis stares at him for a moment, half waiting for him to give her some sort of explanation but he doesn't say a word. She ends up taking the box and her hand shakes as she goes to open the small latch, and it's honestly a miracle that she doesn't drop it when she realizes what's inside.

"Niall…" she whispers as she pulls the topmost letter out of the box. Harry's handwriting is on the front and it's nearly impossible for her to read it because her hand is shaking so much.

"I didn't think it was right to just throw them out," Niall admits. "I thought you might want to read them someday."

Louis grabs a hold of Niall by the shoulders, pulling him into a tight hug as she tries in vain not to burst into tears. His gift is a complete surprise, and while she's unsure of whether or not she'll read the letters, the fact that he chose to keep them means the absolute world to her. Louis simply doesn't know what she did to deserve such wonderful friends like Niall and Harry (and Bressie too), but she can only hope that she can someday find some way to repay their kindness.

"I'll miss you," she says, her voice thick and barely above a whisper.

"I'll miss you too," Niall says as he squeezes her. "Come back sometime. Bring your sisters, yeah?"

"Alright," Louis answers softly. "I'm sure they'd love to play with the Kneazles."

Louis looks down at the box in her hands and gently taps her fingers against the lid. A smile makes its way across her lips and she looks up to find Niall smiling back at her.

"This was your plan all along, wasn't it?" She laughs a little. "You knew by the end of this, I'd want to go home."

Niall shrugs a little. "Thought it was worth a shot, at any rate."

"Thank you," Louis whispers. "For everything."

They part ways shortly thereafter, once everyone's packed up and Bressie's dismantled their tent. The campgrounds are practically empty the further they get from their site, while the numerous portkey locations are packed with fellow witches and wizards trying to get back home.

Louis takes Harry's hand after they've said goodbye to Niall and Bressie, needing the reassurance that what she's doing is the right decision. Even though the (rather short) journey is still ahead of them, taking the first step is certainly the hardest.

The destination of their portkey is only a dozen or so miles outside of Rosemoor, making it easy to Apparate between the two locations. But the moment they set foot inside the village, Louis finds every step she takes to be harder than the last.

They'd agreed to go to Harry's house first, and Louis led Harry to believe she'd go to her mum's house first thing in the morning. Despite his house already being rather small, Harry hovers nearby all evening. Even as they're both getting ready for bed, he sticks around the doorway of his guest bedroom until Louis calls him out for his weird behavior.

"I'm not--"

"You are."

Harry sighs. "Sorry," he says quietly. "Can't help it."

"Harry," Louis says, her voice tinged with sadness even though she can't really blame him.

"You're not going to disappear again, are you?" he asks, his eyes going wide with worry.

Louis picks herself up off of the bed and goes over to hug him tightly, making sure he's listening very carefully before she says anything.

"I won't. I promise."

When morning comes, however, Louis knows she isn't ready to face her mum. She can't go there, not yet. Not without a plan.

Only slightly reverting back to her avoidant ways, Louis decides she needs to take some time for herself. Her first instinct is to transform into a fox and go roaming around the forest along the outskirts of the village. With Harry still asleep in his room, it'd be easy to slip out of the house and lose herself for a while.

But just before Louis opens the door, she pauses and turns around. If she's really going to move on and be better, then she has to start now.

_Harry_ , she scribbles down on a spare bit of parchment, _don't panic. I'll be back in a few hours._

As soon as she's at the edge of the woods, Louis transforms into a fox and immediately she feels at peace. There's something about her fox form that calms her like nothing and no one does; the fact is she thinks differently as a fox, her mind feels clearer and as a result she sees things for what they are instead of being clouded by fears or guilt.

But when she returns to Harry's house a few hours later and finds him at the kitchen table with two mugs of tea, reality hits her like a ton of bricks and the freedom she just reveled in has disappeared. Harry offers her a smile as she slumps down into the seat across from his own, gently pushing one of the mugs towards her.

"Feel better?"

"Not really," Louis murmurs as she cups her hands around the mug and soaks up its warmth.

"Thank you for leaving a note," Harry tells her. "Saved me quite a bit of panic when I realized you weren't here."

Louis chuckles softly. "I learn."

"That you do."

They both go quiet for a while, taking turns sipping at their tea while it's still warm. Louis knows that Harry's expecting her to come up with a plan to go and see her mum and sisters, but it's hard for her to even _imagine_ going to see them today.

"Harry?" she says softly without looking up from her tea.

"Hmm?"

"Could we maybe… just… have a normal day, today? Just you and me?"

"What, like the old days?" Harry asks.

"Yeah, I dunno." Louis shrugs. "Maybe have a good, old-fashioned duel, or something."

Harry pauses for a moment and Louis glances up at him to see his mouth twisted, like he's trying not to smile.

"I've been practicing, you know."

Louis snickers. "Is that right?"

"I could beat you."

"I'd love to see you try."

"After lunch?" Harry asks, no longer trying to hide his smile.

Louis grins in return. "You're on."

*

On the third day after Louis' return to Rosemoor, Harry drags her outside. Properly outside, meaning they're actually going into the village instead of hanging around Harry's house. He's got a shift at the market today and he insists that Louis has to come with him because she's spent too long cooped up inside the house.

"It'll be good for you," he swears. "Bernard will be happy to see you, I'm sure."

"Bernard will absolutely tell my mum he's seen me," Louis replies as she tries to get her arm loose from Harry's grip. "If he doesn't, some nosey, no-good gossip certainly will. This town is full of them, and you know it."

"You're not getting out of this," Harry says, gesturing to her with his wand. It may be slightly cruel, threatening to cast the Full Body-Bind Curse on her if she tries to turn into her fox form, but in the back of her mind Louis knows it's necessary. Being an Animagus is too easy a solution to avoiding dealing with her problems.

"Alright, alright," Louis says as she pushes Harry's hand away. "Put that thing away, I'll do it."

Louis hangs around the market for the entirety of Harry's shift, mostly spending her time pestering Harry whenever he isn't helping customers. Bernard is in fact happy to see her, although seeing as how Louis has never seen him in anything other than a good mood it's hard to say whether her return really made him as happy as he seemed to be.

She mostly avoids being interrogated by any of the elders that come into the shop, usually by slipping behind the counter and hiding even though Harry's told her multiple times that she's not allowed to do that. It gives her an excellent vantage point for flicking his ankles and doing other things good for pestering him, though.

A feeling of relief washes over Louis when Harry's shift is over and they're heading out of the market. She's starting to think that maybe going over to her mum's house won't be as bad as she thinks it could be. Maybe she _is_ ready for it.

But all that confidence comes crashing down when they run into two of Louis' sisters outside of the market. Lottie and Fizzy both freeze when they see her, their conversation coming to an abrupt halt. Louis does the same, and Harry slips his hand over hers to remind her that he's there for her if she needs him.

"Louis?" Fizzy asks, like she can't believe she's actually seeing her sister. A moment passes before Fizzy's launched herself into Louis' arms and is openly crying against her, her words a jumbled mess between sobs.

Lottie, on the other hand, doesn't move a muscle. She stands and stares unblinkingly at Louis with a look so scathing Louis wishes she could melt into the ground to get away from it.

"It's okay, I'm back, I missed you too," Louis murmurs consolingly to Fizzy as her ramblings start to become more coherent as her tears start to subside. She's still clutching Louis tightly, so much that Louis is certain she'll have bruises later on.

"What are you doing here?" Lottie asks. Her voice is completely level, practically devoid of all emotion.

Fizzy turns at the sound of Lottie's voice, shuffling around until she's against Louis' side with her arms clasped around Louis' waist. Louis puts her arm around Fizzy's shoulders, still holding tightly onto Harry's hand, and looks Lottie directly in the eyes as she speaks.

"I've come home."

"What for?" Lottie crosses her arms. "We've got along just fine without you, y'know."

"Lottie!" Fizzy exclaims, but Louis is determined to explain herself.

"I should never have left," she says. "It was wrong, and I was stupid."

"Yeah, well, what else is new?"

"Lottie!" Fizzy shouts. "Stop it!"

"It's okay, Fizz," Louis says. "She has every right to be angry with me."

"I'm not angry!" Lottie shouts. "I'm furious!"

"Lottie--"

"You left us! You didn't even say goodbye! Or tell us where you were going! You just left!"

"I'm sorry, I--"

"I don't want to hear 'I'm sorry'! I don't care _why_ you did it!" Lottie shouts. Her eyes are red and tears are starting to trickle down her cheeks. "You left us!!"

Fizzy starts crying again, more softly this time as she presses her face against Louis' shirt. She's always hated it when Louis and Lottie argue but this is worse than it's ever been before. Louis stays quiet, knowing that it's likely Lottie's been holding this all in for a year and it's best to just let her get it out of her system.

"You didn't even _think_ about what it would do to us, did you? Mum and Fizzy cried every single day! The twins thought it was something they did! And I--" Lottie swallows hard. "I needed you."

Lottie takes a moment to wipe her eyes, sniffling loudly as she rubs her sleeve against her face. Her bottom lip trembles as she tries to collect herself and Louis desperately wants to hug her, to tell her everything's going to be okay, that she'll never run away again and she's sorry, _Merlin's beard, she's so fucking sorry._

"I needed my big sister," Lottie says. Her voice shakes but it doesn't waver. "I didn't know how to take care of Mum all on my own. The girls looked to me and I didn't know what to do. I needed you, Louis, and you were gone."

"I'm sorry," Louis sobs. "I'm sorry, Lottie, I'm so--"

She rushes forward with Fizzy still clinging to her, pulling Lottie to her so she can hold both of her sisters tightly. Lottie struggles at first but soon she's clinging to Louis even tighter than Fizzy. The three of them stay locked in each other's arms until every last tear has been cried out. Louis doesn't know how long they've been standing there, or how many people witnessed Lottie's blow up, but she doesn't even care.

Lottie needed this. They all did. Things had to get a little worse before they could really start to get better. With her sisters by her side, Louis knew she could face their mum. When it comes down to it, it'll have to be one on one, but it certainly helps to have a little extra support along the way.

Harry's still standing nearby when Lottie and Fizzy finally let go of Louis. He hugs them both in turn, saving Louis for last.

"I knew you could do it," he says.

"Haven't done much," she replies. "Not yet, anyway."

"You've made a great start," he insists as they pull away from each other. "It'll only get better from here."

"I'm holding you to that," Louis teases.

Fizzy slips her hand into Louis' and after a beat, Lottie takes the other.

"Can we go home now?" Fizzy asks. Louis smiles at her and turns to Lottie.

"Yeah," she says, smiling back at Louis.

"Let's go home," Louis agrees.

*

When Louis imagined going back to her mum's house, she thought Harry would be at her side. But having Lottie and Fizzy is better in its own way. She's already apologized to two out of her five family members; the twins will probably forgive her immediately like Fizzy did, but Louis doesn't know how her mum will react.

Fizzy's the first through the door, bounding across the threshold like it was any other day. Lottie steps inside and turns around to look back at Louis, who's still standing on the doorstep. She holds out her hand for Louis to take, and it's the last push she needs to come inside.

"Mum!" Fizzy yells. "Mum, come here! Come see!"

"See what?" Jay calls. Louis' heart skips a beat at the sound of her voice. A moment later, Jay steps through the doorway between the hallway and kitchen, freezing the second she sees Louis. The cup she's holding falls from her hand, crashing to the ground and breaking into half a dozen pieces.

"Hi, Mum," Louis whispers.

"Louis," she breathes out, tears already in her eyes. In the blink of an eye, Jay is holding Louis just as tightly as Lottie and Fizzy had in town.

"I'm sorry," Louis cries as she clings to her mum. "I'm so sorry, Mum, I'm--"

Jay hushes her, gently rocking back and forth as they both continue to cry. After a few minutes, she pulls back just enough so she can get a look at Louis' face. She smiles through her tears as she runs her fingers along Louis' cheekbones, brushing her hair back when a few strands fall into her eyes.

"I'm sorry, too," Jay says as she holds Louis' face in her hands. "I let my fears take over when I should've listened to you."

"No, Mum, I should've--"

"Shh, Lou, it's okay. What's done is done, and the important thing is you're home now. You're safe." Her voice wavers on the last word and Louis bursts into tears again.

She spent so long being angry at her mum for all of this that she never really stopped to think about the ramifications of her leaving. Sure, she felt alone for a bit but she had Niall and Bressie to help her get back on her feet, to support her through the Animagus process, and to give her a shove when she needed it.

But her mum and sisters didn't know about any of it. They didn't know if Louis was alive, if she was safe, or where she was. They could've spent the last year believing she was never, ever going to come home again. Maybe they'd resigned themselves to the fact that Louis was gone forever. After all, she never gave them any reason to believe otherwise.

A lot of mistakes were made that night by both her and Jay, but the biggest one followed shortly thereafter: Louis' complete radio silence.

Louis finds comfort in her mum's arms but it doesn't stop the voice in the back of her head that wonders whether things can go back to the way they were. The damage to their relationship may be mended but it still might not ever be the same. How can any of them know for sure that something like this won't happen again?

No matter how many times Louis promises, she simply can't know for sure. All she can do is try.

"C'mon, love," Jay says as she ushers Louis into the kitchen. "D'you want some tea?"

Louis watches as her mum waves her wand and the broken mug puts itself back together before floating up and into her outstretched hand. She offers it to Louis who takes it with a smile.

"I'd love some."

For the rest of the night, Louis expects there to be some sort of family sit-down where she's asked to explain herself, to tell them where she's been and what she's been doing all this time. But strangely, it doesn't come.

She has a normal dinner with her mum and sisters. The twins are ecstatic to have her back, and they chatter endlessly about their first year of Hogwarts as if she'd never left in the first place. In fact, Louis even starts to feel like she'd never gone away at all. It's easy to slip back into her role as the eldest, to tease her younger sisters and make them giggle. She'd missed this so much, being a part of a family.

At the end of the night, when all of her sisters have gone off to bed, Louis hesitates. She hadn't assumed she'd be staying over in her old room, if it's even still her room. She thought she'd be going back to Harry's, never imagining that things would return to normal so quickly.

"Your room's still there, you know."

Louis turns to see her mum standing in the doorway of the kitchen, having returned from tucking in the twins.

"Is it?" Louis chuckles. "I thought for sure Lottie had stolen it."

Jay shakes her head. "Just like you left it."

Louis feels a twinge in her chest at the sound of her mother's words, and she can't help but show it on her face. Jay comes forward and takes Louis into her arms, cooing softly as she rocks back and forth in a gentle motion.

"It's alright," she whispers as Louis takes a shaky breath.

"I'm sorry," Louis breathes out, sniffling as she buries her head against her mum's shoulder.

"I know. It's been a big day for all of us," Jay says as she rubs her hand up and down Louis' back. "Why don't you go get some rest at Harry's, and come back tomorrow morning for breakfast?"

Louis pulls back in her arms a little, and she can't help the tears that spring to her eyes. Without missing a beat, Jay smiles and rubs her thumb along Louis' cheek.

"I don't want you to get overwhelmed," she explains. "I think maybe taking it slow is good for all of us, right now."

Louis breathes a sigh of relief. "Okay, Mum."

"I love you, Louis."

"I love you, too," she says, her voice cracking a little.

Jay walks her to the front door, keeping an arm around Louis' shoulders. They hug once more upon reaching it, and Jay takes Louis' face in her hands and presses a kiss to her forehead.

"Lottie's taking the girls out tomorrow, so it'll just be you and me. That alright?"

"Yeah," Louis says with a nod. "That'll be great."

Jay smiles, her bottom lip trembling ever so slightly as she brushes Louis' hair away from her face. Louis pulls her into one last hug before she walks out the door, waiting until her mum's closed it behind her before she Apparates to Harry's house.

He's still up, sitting in a chair in the living room when she suddenly appears. He doesn't immediately ask how it all went, he waits for her to say something.

All she has to do is smile and he knows everything is going to be okay.

*

A strange feeling washes over Louis as she stands outside her mum's house the following morning. Before she left, she never thought twice about just barging through the door. It was her house too, then. But now she feels like maybe she should knock and wait for someone else to let her inside. Of course, she's debating all of this inside of her head as she's halfway up the path to the door, and as a result the decision is inevitably made for her when her sisters come barreling out of the front door.

"Louis!" Phoebe and Daisy immediately chorus, running forward to hug her.

"Hello," she says joyfully, hugging both of them as Fizzy and Lottie follow suit. "Where are you all off to this morning?"

"Lottie says it's a surprise," Fizzy says. "Won't tell us anything."

Louis looks at Lottie, who winks back at her.

"Must be _very_ special, then," Louis says, playing along as she looks down at the twins. "Best be getting a move on!"

"Will you be here when we get back?" Daisy asks.

Louis pauses for a moment, glancing over at the door where her mum's suddenly appeared. She looks back down at the twins, and the hopeful looks on their faces are too much for her to say anything other than a yes.

"Of course I will," she says.

"Good," Phoebe replies. She and Daisy let go of Louis and shout their goodbyes as they run off down the path, Fizzy close behind to ensure they don't go too far.

"Where are you taking them?" Louis asks Lottie in a low voice as she passes by.

"Haven't decided yet," Lottie admits with a snort. "I'm hoping they'll guess somewhere fun and I can pass it off as my own."

"That's my girl," Louis replies with a laugh, patting Lottie's shoulder. In return Lottie knocks her shoulder against Louis', grinning widely before she sets off after their sisters.

"C'mon, Lou," Jay calls after Louis lingers for another few seconds watching her sisters walk away from the house. "I've got tea ready."

The kitchen is cozy as ever, even with the rest of the house being eerily quiet in the absence of the rest of the girls. Louis sits down at the kitchen table while her mum brings over some tea and a mini feast for her. Not realizing how hungry she was until the food is in front of her, Louis quickly digs in while Jay quietly sits down in one of the other chairs with a mug of her own.

Jay stays quiet while Louis eats, waiting until Louis has devoured more than half of the food on her plate before she decides to speak.

"I want to apologize to you, Louis."

Louis pauses, her fork halfway up to her mouth as she looks over at her mum.

"I've had a lot of time to think about everything, and I now know that what I did was wrong, too."

"Mum--" Louis swallows the food in her mouth and drops her fork, reaching out for Jay's hand. "Mum, you didn't--"

"It's okay, Lou," Jay says. "I should've listened to you. I shouldn't have let my own fears keep you from pursuing your passion. I should've believed in you instead of--" Jay's voice catches and Louis squeezes her hand.

"Mum…"

Jay waves her free hand. "I'm alright, love," she assures Louis with a smile. "It's just… you're my baby, Lou. I've always wanted to protect you and your sisters from anything bad in this world. And when you told me you wanted to be an Animagus, I knew I wouldn't be able to protect you and I just couldn't handle the thought. I was so afraid that you would get hurt that I didn't even let you try."

Jay pauses for a while and Louis stays quiet. It's not her turn to speak yet.

"When you left, I was so angry. I was angry, but I was also ashamed. So ashamed that I'd pushed you away because of my fears. I started thinking about all the other things I'd supported you in that could've been just as dangerous. I could've kept you from playing Quidditch, but instead I let you practice day in and day out, as much as you wanted, just so you could try out for the school team." Jay smiles as tears start to leak from her eyes. "And you made it."

Louis sniffles, her own eyes filling with tears just from seeing her mum start to cry.

"I should've believed in you, Louis. I should've put my fears aside and reminded myself that you're not my friend from school. You're my baby. My baby who can do anything she sets her mind to." Jay takes her hand out of Louis' and reaches forward to cup her hands around Louis' face. "But I worry about you, Lou. Because I know you're strong, and you're hard-headed, and sometimes that gets you into trouble."

Jay releases Louis' face and clasps her hands together, resting her elbows on the table as she sighs heavily and presses her forehead against her hands.

"I was so scared that you'd never come home. I knew if I tried to find you, it would only make things worse. I knew I had to give you space, but… _Merlin_ , all I wanted to do was to bring you home."

"I was scared too," Louis says shakily. "I was scared you wouldn't want me to come home after what I did."

"Oh, Louis." Jay sniffles. "I always want you here. No matter what, you hear me?"

"I'm sorry I stayed away so long," Louis says as she takes Jay's hand again. "I should've told you where I was, or that I was okay, anything. I was stupid, and selfish, and--"

"It's alright--"

"No, it's not alright," Louis interrupts as she starts crying. "I left you. I abandoned you and the girls! I never should've--"

Louis' sobs overtake her ability to speak and her mum quickly gets up from her chair in order to wrap her arms around Louis in a proper hug. They cling to one another until they've both stopped crying, which takes far longer than Louis would've preferred. She hates crying in front of anyone and she's done it so much lately that she would think, by now, she wouldn't have any tears left.

"Well," Jay says as she sits back down in her chair, wiping at her eyes as Louis does the same. "I think we both needed that."

Louis chuckles softly. "Might've, yeah."

"D'you still want to become an Animagus?" Jay asks.

"I…" Louis clears her throat.

"I'm not going to stand in your way, this time," Jay continues. "I want you to be happy, Lou, and if doing this is going to make you happy, then--"

"I already… sort of… did it?" Louis says awkwardly, twisting her fingers together.

"You what?" Jay blinks. "All on your own?"

"Yeah," Louis laughs a little. "Well, actually, no. Not completely on my own. Professor McGonagall helped. And Niall, too."

"Niall?" Jay shakes her head. "Wait, I'm confused."

"That's where I was," Louis explains. "I was in Ireland, with Niall. And his Niall."

Jay gives her a look of total confusion and Louis groans softly; she's not explaining this well at all.

"Niall's boyfriend is also named Niall. They have a farm in Ireland where they breed Kneazles. That's where I've been for the last year."

"Okay…"

"And I was also exchanging letters with Professor McGonagall, you see, since… well, she's the only Animagus I know. She was really helpful with the process and all that. I don't think I'd have been able to do it, if not for her." Louis knows she's rambling a bit, but now that she's started she doesn't know if she can really stop.

"I see," Jay says softly.

"And Niall, well, Niall helped me get some of the ingredients I needed for the potion, and he kept telling me that I could do it, which I think also helped--" Louis falters for a moment, realizing she'd just inadvertently insulted her own mum. "Mum, I…"

"It's alright, Lou," Jay says with a smile. "I'm glad Niall was there for you when I couldn't be."

Louis smiles back, her mouth a little wobbly as more tears threaten to fall. "He helped me see that I needed to come home, too. Him and Harry. They helped me even though I was too stubborn to admit that I'd screwed up."

"Sounds like you've got yourself some good friends," Jay says approvingly.

"I do," Louis replies with a soft laugh.

In that moment though, Louis isn't thinking about Niall or Harry. Her mind turns to Nick, and that feeling of guilt returns. If she hadn't jumped to conclusions, if she'd just been patient, none of this would've happened.

"Lou, you alright?" Jay asks curiously.

"Yeah, Mum." Louis puts on a smile. "I'm good."

It's not the right time to bring up Nick. Today's about repairing her relationship with her mum. Louis knows she can't put it off forever, but waiting another day isn't going to hurt.

"Good," Jay replies. "Now, c'mon, show me your Animagus form!"

A wide grin spreads across Louis' face as she gets up from her chair at the kitchen table, taking a few steps away from it as she opens her arms with a flourish. A moment later, she's a fox scurrying around the kitchen to the delighted laughter of her mum. She weaves her way around the legs of the chair her mum is sitting in, brushing her bushy tail against her mum every chance she gets.

After several minutes of showing off, Louis hops back onto her chair and switches back to her normal form. The grin is still on her face and it grows even bigger as her mum claps excitedly.

"That's wonderful, Louis!" Jay sighs happily. "I'm so proud of you."

Louis ducks her head, now feeling bashful. "Thanks, Mum."

*

When her sisters return later that afternoon, Louis surprises them while in her fox form. At first they think perhaps a wild fox has somehow managed to find its way into their house without their mum knowing and they chase Louis around, trying to catch her. But when Jay remains unbothered by its presence and even starts to laugh about the whole thing, Louis picks that time to change back and catch her sisters completely off-guard.

From that moment on, it's utter pandemonium in the Tomlinson household.

The chaos doesn't subside until well into the night, when the twins have to be dragged off to bed from where they're falling asleep on the living room floor. Louis has been in her fox form and cozied up to them since after dinner, letting them cuddle and pet her to their hearts' content.

As Jay takes the twins upstairs, Fizzy quickly follows suit after saying good night to Lottie and Louis, who's now back in her normal form. Louis finds it a bit strange that Fizzy's going to bed so early, but as soon as she's out of the room Lottie leans over and whispers the reasoning behind it.

"Mum doesn't know, but she's got a boyfriend at Hogwarts."

" _Really_?" Louis gasps. "Who?"

Lottie scoffs, laughing. "Like you'd know him, you're ancient."

"Oi," Louis pulls Lottie into a headlock and ruffles her hair until Lottie cries mercy, but Louis keeps her arm around Lottie's shoulders and she makes no effort to pull away from Louis' side.

"His name's Ben, I think. He's a Ravenclaw."

Louis hums in interest.

"They exchange owls every day," Lottie goes on. "That's why she's always going off to bed early. It's so she can write to him in secret."

"Not so secret if you know about it, though," Louis says with a snicker.

"Yeah, well," Lottie says with a shrug. "Somebody has to look after her. He seems nice and all, but you never know."

"He'd better be nice," Louis replies. "Otherwise I'll go to Hogwarts myself and teach him a thing or two."

Lottie snorts. They both stare into the fire on the other side of the living room for a while, enjoying each other's company in the silence. It's an unusually cold night for July, and from outside they can hear rain coming down hard. Louis relaxes into the comfort of the sofa underneath her, feeling far more at home than she has in a long time.

"It's weird," Lottie says after a few minutes. "I won't be going back."

"It was weird for me, too." Louis gently plays with Lottie's hair. "I didn't know what to do with myself."

"You still don't," Lottie says, smirking when Louis flicks the side of her head. "I was thinking about moving to London, maybe."

"Yeah?" Louis swallows hard.

"Well, I was, before my last year started," Lottie looks down at her hands. "And then you left, and everything was just so…" She pauses and shakes her head. "I dunno, it didn't seem like a good idea anymore."

"What about now?"

"Maybe," Lottie answers vaguely. "Dunno what I'd do there, anyway."

"Maybe we can go there sometime," Louis suggests. "See what's around? I bet there's loads of places hiring in Diagon Alley, or even the Ministry."

Lottie makes a face. "I don't think I want to work for the Ministry."

"Can't blame you," Louis says with a laugh. "I wouldn't either."

"Are you going to register?" Lottie asks, slightly worried. Louis lets out a long breath.

"I promised McGonagall I would." She tilts her head to the side. "Probably should."

"Probably," Lottie agrees. "Don't be like that awful woman at the Daily Prophet. What was her name?"

"Skeeter," Louis says, laughing a little harder. "Hey, that's another one. Bet you could write people's fortunes for the Daily Prophet, or something."

Lottie rolls her eyes and elbows Louis sharply in the side.

"What're you going to do now?" Lottie asks. "Now that you're back?"

"Dunno," Louis answers honestly. "Hadn't planned that far."

"You're not leaving again, are you?"

"No," Louis says as she shakes her head. "Promise I won't."

"Good." Lottie sighs heavily and starts to get up from the sofa. "I should probably go to bed too, I'm taking Fizzy to Nick's in the morning."

"Nick's?" Louis asks, practically freezing in place at the mention of her name. "What for?"

"She's been giving Fizzy lessons, didn't Mum tell you?"

"N-no, she didn't."

"Yeah," Lottie continues, completely unaware that Louis is having a mental breakdown. "Fizzy's thinking more about becoming a Healer, maybe applying to St. Mungo's, and Mum thought since Nick worked there more recently than she has, she'd be the best teacher."

"Fizzy… a healer?" Louis blinks. "Since when?"

Lottie laughs a little. "You've been gone a while, Lou. Things change."

"Apparently," she mutters under her breath. Lottie walks towards the door, but Louis catches her before she leaves the room. "And Nick is… okay with this?"

"Yeah," Lottie replies, giving Louis a weird look. "She's all for it. She even comes here sometimes."

"She does?"

"Yeah, why?" Lottie crosses her arms. "You're being weird. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Louis says quickly. "I just… y'know."

"What?"

"Nobody told me, is all," Louis says, trying to brush off Lottie's curiosity. "Seems like something someone should've mentioned."

"Well, now you know." Lottie does a little flourish with her arms. "Anything else you want to know, your Majesty?"

"Piss off," Louis replies, waving Lottie away. She leaves, although not without giving Louis one last strange look that Louis completely ignores. She knows full well she was acting strangely and if she'd been able to help it _at all_ she would've.

She just can't get over the fact that nobody, not a single one of her sisters or her mum, told her that Nick was involved in their lives. She has approximately a hundred questions and there's no guarantee that any of them will ever get answered.

_How did it happen?_

_When did it start?_

_Does her family know what she did to Nick's cottage?_

_Is Nick planning some sort of revenge?_

Louis groans and puts her head in her hands. Maybe if she'd brought up Nick earlier when she had her mum alone, she could've gotten more information. But Louis knows that her secret inevitably would've come to light had she steered the conversation towards Nick, and would her mum have been able to forgive her for that on top of everything else?

As understanding as her mum is, it's hard for Louis to believe that she wouldn't have a problem with what she'd done to Nick's cottage.

Having decided to stay over hours before, Louis puts out the fire and trudges up the stairs to her old room. The sheets on her bed are freshly laundered and her pillows smell like lavender when she falls face-first onto them. She stays immobile with her face buried for a few minutes before she picks herself back up and sits down at her desk.

Her drawer is still full of parchment when she opens it, and she takes out two blank pieces along with her quill and small bottle of ink.

The first letter she writes is to the Administrative Registration Department within the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Magic. It's an utterly exhausting address to write out, and Louis is only mostly certain that it's the right place to send her letter.

_To Whom It May Concern,_

_I wish to register myself as an Animagus. Please return correspondence with the correct procedure and/or paperwork to complete this registration._

_Thank you, Louis Tomlinson_

"Terrible," Louis mutters to herself as she looks down at what's quite possibly the most professional-sounding letter she's ever written. It's highly unlikely that any other attempt at this letter would bore anything less awful, so instead she sets it aside for the ink to dry and smoothes out the other fresh piece of parchment.

_Dear Professor McGonagall,_

_I didn't return to Ireland after the Quidditch World Cup like I originally expected, so if you replied to my previous letter I haven't received it. I wanted to thank you again for all of your help, but I also wanted to thank you for believing in me. I think that was a major part of my success, because without your support, I don't think I would've been able to do it on my own._

_Now that I've come back home, I don't know what my next adventure will be. Now that I've achieved my goal, maybe it's time I settle for something a little less dangerous. I know my mum would prefer that, and I think I might, as well._

_Hope you're well. Thank you again._

_Sincerely, Louis Tomlinson_

After she finishes the second letter, Louis darts back downstairs and gives both of them to the family owl, Ruby, to deliver. She hoots once and nips at Louis' fingers affectionately before she takes off and out the window. Louis watches her for a few seconds before she turns around and heads back upstairs.

Once she's back in her room, Louis climbs into her bed. She curls up under the covers and turns on her side, facing the window. The moon shines in through the crack in her curtains and she reaches out to pull one to the side. It's not full yet, but it can't be more than a day or two away.

Louis lets go of the curtain and rolls onto her back, pulling her covers up to her chin. She closes her eyes and her mind wanders to the same person it always does: Nick.

_Maybe I'll go and see her tomorrow_ , Louis thinks to herself.

Despite her fears, Louis desperately wants to see Nick again. She can't help but think maybe this is the universe's way of giving her a second chance. If she accompanies her sisters to Nick's cottage tomorrow, like the first time they went, it'll give her the opportunity she needs to apologize. Surely Nick won't shout at her with her sisters around, will she?

_I can only hope_.

*

After a night of fitful sleep, Louis feels tired right down to her bones the next morning. She drags herself out of bed and gets dressed before she shuffles downstairs where she finds her whole family already gathered in the kitchen.

"What happened to you?" Fizzy asks, eyeing Louis up and down as she sags into the only empty chair at the kitchen table.

"Shut up," Louis groans as Jay quickly gets up to fetch her a cup of tea. "Didn't sleep well."

"D'you want something to eat, love?" Jay asks as she sets a steaming cup in front of Louis and lays a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Nah, tea's enough for now." Louis smiles gratefully. "Thanks, Mum."

"Alright. Hurry up, Fizz, or you'll be late."

"Lottie's not done yet either," Fizzy retorts, earning a glare from Lottie across the table.

"Well you'd both best get a move on, then." Jay shakes her head. "Nick's doing you a favor, don't forget."

Fizzy's reply is drowned out by the sound of all the blood in Louis' body suddenly rushing to her head. She feels faint and has to hold onto the table just to ensure she doesn't suddenly slip out of her chair. Phoebe, who's sitting across from her, cocks her head to one side as she chews on her toast.

"You don't look so good," she says thoughtfully, her chin covered in toast crumbs.

"Maybe you should go back to bed, Lou," Jay says, pressing the back of her hand against Louis' forehead. "You do look a bit peaky."

"I'm alright," Louis says weakly. "Maybe I just… need some fresh air?" She looks over to Lottie and Fizzy, and then back at her mum as a plan forms in her head. "I could walk with Lottie and Fizzy over to N--" Her voice catches, but she covers it up by clearing her throat. "Nick's."

"Mum," Fizzy whines, "it's bad enough Lottie has to walk me over there, do I really need _two_ chaperones?"

The argument doesn't get very far at all once Jay gives Fizzy a look that Louis knows all too well. Within fifteen minutes, the three of them are heading out the door to Nick's and Louis is using all of her strength to remain calm and not let her sisters know that anything is wrong.

It only partially works, however, because Lottie and Fizzy give Louis increasingly strange looks but don't actually ask about her weird behavior.

"I can't wait 'til I learn to Apparate," Fizzy grumbles.

"You and me both," Lottie replies.

Louis thinks back to the first time the three of them went to Nick's house and a strange sense of excitement washes over her when she remembers seeing Nick for the first time. Absentmindedly Louis wonders whether anything has changed or if she'll still look exactly the same as she did on that day.

Fizzy's the first one up the steps to Nick's door, followed by Lottie and then Louis. Now that she's here, Louis finds it hard to breathe. She hesitates on the last step, trying to remind herself why this was a good idea in the first place. She's moments away from Disapparating on the spot when the door opens and Nick appears in its place with a smile.

"Hello!" she greets brightly, her eyes moving from Fizzy to Lottie with no change in her expression. It's only when she realizes there's a third person in front of her door, and that person is _Louis_ , that her smile falters.

"Louis came home," Lottie explains as she looks back at Louis with a smile, "isn't that great?"

Fizzy's already talking a mile a minute as she disappears past Nick and into her house, either not noticing or not particularly caring that both Nick and Louis are frozen in place.

"Hi," Louis says at last. She keeps darting her eyes away from Nick's, finding it too difficult to return the constant eye contact. Nick doesn't have that problem, it seems, given the way she's staring Louis down.

"You're back," she says.

"I'm back."

For a moment, it looks like Nick's going to say something else. But after a full minute passes in silence, she simply steps backwards into her house and closes the door.

Louis stares down at the ground as Lottie closes the short distance between them, putting her hands on her hips as she nudges Louis' foot with her own.

"So… what was that all about?"

"Nothing," Louis replies. "Let's go home."

Louis Apparates first, appearing in the living room of her mum's house, and Lottie is only seconds behind.

"It didn't look like nothing," she says, clearly not letting this topic go.

"Leave it, Lottie."

"I thought something was going on between you two but I couldn't be sure," Lottie continues. "But now it's so obvious! Did you come with us just so you could see her?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Louis snaps.

"C'mon, Lou," Lottie says as she follows Louis out of the living room and up the stairs. "Did you two have a fight? Is she why you really left?"

"Lottie!" Louis shouts. "I don't want to talk about it, alright? Leave me alone!"

With that, Louis takes off to her bedroom and slams the door behind her. She falls onto her bed and her eyes burn as though she's going to start crying, but nothing comes of it. She feels broken in a way she didn't expect. Somehow she never thought about how she would feel if Nick genuinely didn't want to speak to her.

It feels as though time is stretching out into eons rather than minutes she's used to. There's a soft knock at her door and Louis wants absolutely nothing to do with whoever's on the other side, so she simply ignores it. But the knocks continue. Louis still doesn't respond. She doesn't even move until she hears the doorknob turn.

"Lottie, I told you--"

It isn't Lottie. It's her mum.

"Are you alright?"

Louis looks down at her bed. "I'm fine."

"I heard you shouting at Lottie," Jay says as she takes a cautious step into Louis' room, and when Louis looks up she sees Lottie hovering in the doorway behind her. "And she told me what happened at Nick's."

"Lottie should've kept her mouth shut," Louis grumbles.

"What happened, Lou?" Jay sits down at the foot of the bed.

"You already heard what happened." Louis waves her hand towards Lottie. "What else is there to say?"

"I think there's more to the story than just what happened this morning," Jay says. "And I think you need to talk about it, whether you want to or not."

Louis' face crumples and she puts her head in her mum's lap, curling up like she used to when she was smaller. Lottie stays in the doorway with one hand on the doorknob and a concerned look on her face.

"It's alright," Jay says gently as she runs her fingers through Louis' hair.

"It's not," Louis says, her voice thick like she's been crying but still no tears come. "I've messed everything up and she'll never forgive me."

"I'm sure that's not true."

"You didn't see the way she looked at me, Mum." Louis sniffles. "She barely even spoke to me."

"Well, what happened? Did you two have a fight?"

"No," Louis says, and then adds in a smaller voice, "not really."

"D'you know what my mum would've called this?" Jay chuckles softly as Louis shakes her head. "A lover's quarrel."

"Mum…" Louis sits up and looks at her nervously. "I--"

"I'm not blind, Louis." Jay presses her hand to Louis' cheek gently. "I could tell something was going on between the two of you. She made you so happy."

Louis' cheeks are aflame with embarrassment. She glances over at Lottie, expecting to see some sort of amusement on her face, but all she sees is understanding and love.

"I messed up," Louis whispers.

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad."

Louis shakes her head. "It was, Mum. I…" She takes a deep breath. "I destroyed her house."

"You… what?" Jay asks over the sound of Lottie gasping.

"I was going to ask her for help," Louis explains shakily. "I planned it all out, that day you lot went to Diagon Alley, I was going to have Nick over and tell her all about my wanting to be an Animagus and everything. That's why I left all of my research out."

Louis pauses, waiting to see a reaction from her mum, but she just waits patiently for Louis to continue.

"She didn't come. She wouldn't explain why. And I just… I got so angry. I felt betrayed, like… like I'd gone to all this trouble to finally share a part of myself that I hadn't shared with anybody and it was like she didn't even care!" Louis hangs her head. "I was stupid. So, so stupid. I went to her house and before I knew what I was doing, half of it was rubble. And then…"

Louis buries her face in her hands. What she did was bad enough but now the shame she feels after admitting it to her mum _and_ Lottie is almost unbearable. Nick has every right to hate her, she knows that. After this, she wouldn't blame her mum or Lottie if they hated her too.

"She was there," Louis says, partially through her fingers. "She saw everything. I didn't know what to do. I think I said I was sorry, but the damage was already done. I just… left."

"Well." Jay lets out a long breath. "I… hmm."

"No wonder she hates you," Lottie remarks.

"Lottie," Jay chastises.

"Cheers," Louis mumbles.

"Mum, she blew up her house! I think Nick's allowed to be a bit stroppy about it," Lottie says as she finally enters the room. "Did you really think you'd go and see her and everything would be just like it was?"

"No," Louis says petulantly. "But I--"

"All you said was 'hi' and 'I'm back'. Not exactly 'I'm sorry for blowing up your house and running away for a year', is it?"

"Lottie," Jay says in a warning tone.

"You're coddling her!"

"She's right," Louis says, interrupting what may have turned into a rant. "I never properly apologized."

"Yeah, you're really bad at that," Lottie says as she crosses her arms.

Louis resists the urge to hit her sister for about a minute, and then she smacks her against the hip with the back of her hand.

"You didn't have to _say_ it," Louis says.

"I think," Jay starts, wedging herself between Louis and Lottie. "That we've all done things that we need to apologize for."

"What did I do?" Lottie demands. Jay gives her that same look she gave to Fizzy earlier and Lottie goes quiet.

"You need to apologize, Louis. I don't know if Nick will forgive and forget, but until you try you won't ever know for sure."

"I know," Louis replies.

"She can do it today," Lottie suggests. "We can both go back to pick up Fizzy, and you can stay behind to apologize."

"But--"

"I think that's a wonderful idea," Jay agrees.

Louis groans loudly and falls onto her back against the bed. "You're not going to let me put this off, are you?"

"Nope," Lottie says as she climbs onto Louis' bed beside her. "No more running away, Lou."

Louis sighs heavily as she looks at her mum and sister. She expected to feel annoyed, even frustrated by their interference and demands but instead she feels grateful to have family who cares so much about her, even after everything she's done.

Even if things don't go well with Nick, at least Louis has her family.

*

It's a struggle for Louis to leave the house when it's time to go pick up Fizzy. She tries begging off, seriously considers Disapparating and hiding out at Harry's house, but in the end it's no use. She can't run away from this problem, not when it would mean leaving everyone again. If Louis really wanted to get away from the shame of what she'd done to Nick, she'd never be able to return to Rosemoor.

Lottie resorts to Side-Along Apparition just to ensure that Louis comes along. Louis gives her an indignant glare when they appear on Nick's doorstep and Lottie smiles brightly at her in return.

"I wasn't going to run," she mutters.

"Just wanted to make sure," Lottie replies before she reaches out and knocks on Nick's door.

It takes a few agonizing seconds for the door to open, and Louis' heart clenches when it's Fizzy on the other side. She looks a bit surprised to see them both and for a moment Louis is struck with the fear that Nick's gone and told her sister everything Louis did.

"Seriously? Both of you _again_?" Fizzy says exasperatedly.

"Is Nick around?" Lottie asks, ignoring Fizzy's annoyed stare.

"Lottie--" Louis begins.

"Nick!" Fizzy half-turns and shouts into the house.

"No, you don't--"

"You're doing this," Lottie hisses as she tugs roughly on Louis' shirt sleeve.

"Doing what?" Fizzy asks, but before Louis can tell her to forget about it, Nick's appeared behind her.

She looks even more confused than she did this morning, like she can't believe Louis would be stupid enough to come back. Louis' heart starts pounding. This was a terrible idea, Nick is _never_ going to forgive her and she should just leave now to save herself any further embarrassment.

"What's going on?" Fizzy asks, her voice louder than before.

"Louis has something to tell you," Lottie says to Nick as she grabs Fizzy's arm. Before Fizzy can finish her protest, they've both Disapparated.

Louis stares at the spot where Lottie stood seconds ago, calling her a hundred different names in her mind (most a variation of traitor) until she hears Nick snort with laughter. She turns back to face Nick and tries to find her nerve.

"Well?" Nick asks after several more minutes of silence pass.

"Can I come in?" Louis says, surprising both herself and Nick. It's a good idea, in theory, because at least then she won't have to bare her soul for all the world to see.

"Yeah, alright," Nick says with a sigh as she steps aside and lets Louis in.

Louis glances around as she walks into Nick's living room. It looks slightly different than she remembers, and before she realizes what she's doing Louis finds herself talking aloud.

"I like what you've done with the place."

She immediately claps both of her hands over her mouth and wishes desperately that she had a Time Turner so she could take her comment back.

Surprisingly, Nick starts to laugh. She passes by Louis and sits down in one of the armchairs in the living room, still laughing. Louis stares at her, still frozen with her hands over her mouth, until Nick's laughter subsides and she looks at Louis expectantly.

"Is that what you wanted to tell me?" she asks with absolutely no humor in her voice. Louis shakes her head. "Out with it, then."

"I'm sorry," Louis whispers after she drops her hands back down to her sides.

"You're sorry?" Nick repeats, and Louis nods. "What're you sorry for, Louis?"

The question throws Louis for a loop for a moment; she can't tell if Nick is baiting her or if it's a genuine question.

"Everything?"

"Everything?" Nick echoes. She nods thoughtfully and then cocks her head to the side. "Is that it?"

"Is what--"

"I mean," Nick says as she gets up and uses her height to her advantage as she looms over Louis. "Did you come here and expect to just say 'sorry for everything' and it would be enough?"

"No, I--"

"It's not even a real apology, Louis. You can't even be specific about what you're sorry for!"

"Nick, please," Louis begs.

"I don't know what I was thinking," Nick mutters to herself. "I never should've let you inside my house. I should've known--"

"You don't understand," Louis pleads. "If you'd just let me explain--"

"Explain??" Nick snaps, her voice going low and dangerous. "Okay, go ahead. Explain. Tell me why you almost demolished my house. Tell me what I did to make you hate me _that_ much."

"I don't hate you. How could you think that?"

"What the fuck am I supposed to think?!" Nick shouts. "My house was in ruins because of you!"

"I didn't mean to! I was just--" Louis stutters. Nick's anger is making her even more nervous than before and it's getting harder for Louis to keep it together.

"Just what?" Nick demands. "What, Louis??"

"Stop shouting at me!" Louis cries. "I can't think!"

"I've every right to shout at you! I'm angry! I've been angry at you for so long for what you did to me. Do you know how many times I went over that night in my head, trying to figure out what I'd done to deserve that?"

"You never showed up!" Louis shouts, finally losing any shred of composure she had left. "I waited for you, and you never came!"

Nick looks completely bewildered and her voice goes quiet as she asks, "what?"

"I waited for you," Louis repeats, sniffling as her eyes fill with tears. "I wanted to show you the house, to show you my life and tell you my secr--" Her voice catches and she pauses. When she finds her voice again, she switches gears. "You couldn't even give me a reason. You just brushed me off like I was nothing."

Louis pauses, giving Nick a chance to explain herself. Nick stays quiet, still looking utterly confused by Louis' outburst.

"It hurt, Nick. It hurt so much because I thought… I thought I meant something to you. I liked you so much, and I thought we were…" Louis holds back a sob and shakes her head. "But when you didn't show up and you wouldn't tell me why, I got upset."

"Upset?" Nick repeats in disbelief. "You were _upset_ so you blew up my house?"

"I wanted to hurt you like you hurt me!" Louis shouts. "It was stupid, and I regretted it as soon as I'd done it!"

"But you still did it!" Nick shouts back. "And then you just disappeared!"

"You don't understand. I had to." Louis is shaking her head. This isn't going well at all and it's getting harder to believe that she'll leave Nick's house on anything other than bad terms. "I didn't have a choice."

"You did have a choice! You could've stayed. You could've told me then what I'd done to you."

"I couldn't," Louis says as she starts crying again. "My mum found out. She found out about me and…"

Nick softens slightly, looking for the first time more concerned than angry. "What are you talking about?"

There's no better way to explain herself than to show Nick exactly what she's referring to, so Louis decides to transform into a fox. It lasts thirty seconds at most, and then she's right back to her normal form and avoiding eye contact with Nick.

"She didn't want me to be an Animagus," Louis admits quietly. "She thought it was too dangerous. She burned all of my notes, my research, everything."

"I…" Nick blinks wildly. "I don't understand. What does that have to do with--"

"That day," Louis interrupts. "I was going to tell you everything. I wanted to share it with you first, because you had the skills in potions that I never did. I thought if I had you on my side, if I could show you how serious I was about it, then maybe you'd support me when my mum couldn't." Louis sniffs sharply and looks Nick in the eye. "I thought at least you'd listen."

Nick is back to looking bewildered. She retreats to the armchair she was sitting in before, sinking down onto the cushion as she lets out a long breath. Louis stays in the same place, watching her with worried eyes.

"I don't know what to say," Nick admits after a few minutes.

"I'm sorry," Louis says. "I never should've left, and I know that now. I've made so many mistakes in the last year and I've regretted every single one of them, but most of all I wish I could take back what I did to you. No matter what I was feeling, you didn't deserve that."

Nick chuckles softly. "Too right," she mumbles.

"If you want…" Louis hangs her head. "I'll go. I won't come around anymore."

"No, don't--" Nick sighs heavily. "Just give me a minute, yeah? You've had all year to process this, you could at least give me a few minutes."

"Okay," Louis answers, hesitantly optimistic.

"And sit down, please, you're making me nervous just hovering like that."

"Okay," Louis repeats, quickly sitting down in the armchair near Nick's. And then she waits.

Louis has no idea what Nick's thinking, if she's being honest with herself. But she's said her piece and now it's up to Nick whether she wants to forgive Louis or not. She doesn't want to get her hopes up, but she can't help feeling a tiny sliver of hope simply based on her track record with forgiveness lately.

But this is different. Nick doesn't know her as well as her family does, or like Harry does. Nick knows her in a different way but there's still so much they don't know about each other. Louis just hopes there's still a chance for her to get to know Nick better, and for Nick to know her.

"I want to make sure I have all of this correctly," Nick says with an air of hesitancy. "You felt abandoned by me, so that's why you destroyed my house."

"Yes," Louis says in a quiet, miserable tone.

"Was that before or after your mum burned your research?"

"After. I, umm… I left it all out in the living room when I left to go to yours, and when I got back she was home." Louis sighs quietly. "Nick, I didn't mean to--"

"Hold on."

"But--"

"Louis, please." She goes quiet and Nick lets out a breath. "So then you disappeared because your mum burned your research and… what, told you that she didn't want you becoming an Animagus?"

"Basically," Louis answers, feeling embarrassed and stupid all over again.

"But you leaving didn't have anything to do with me?"

Louis lifts her head and sees a sort of nervous look in Nick's eyes.

"No," she says. "It really didn't."

"Okay."

"I came to your house to try and find you," Louis says, feeling the need to explain herself further. "I didn't come here with the intent to destroy it, you have to believe me."

"How can I?" Nick asks with a huff. "It's mad, what you did."

"I know that!" Louis cries. "I know it was, and I know I was stupid and impulsive and I hate that I resorted to that instead of just walking away. I wish I could change a lot of things about that night, but I can't. You know I can't. But I'm here, Nick. I'm trying to make things right."

Nick sighs heavily. "I know you are."

"I never meant to hurt you," Louis whispers.

"I went to your mum's house to try and find you, the day after." Nick stares down at her hands, twisting her fingers together instead of looking Louis in the eye. "Fizzy's the one who answered the door. When I asked for you, she burst into tears."

Louis' heart clenches.

"All your mum would say is that you weren't home. I didn't know what to think." She sighs again. "It's not just me you hurt, you know."

"I know."

"Your family loves you so much. I don't understand how you could just leave them like that."

"I was angry," Louis tries, but it's not enough for Nick.

"No, what you did was cruel, Louis. Your sisters didn't deserve that, your mum certainly didn't. What she did was wrong, but what you did was a thousand times worse."

"Don't you think I know that?" Louis interrupts, getting emotional again. "I spent a year without my family. The only time I'd ever been away from them before that was when I was at Hogwarts, and even then I wrote home every single day. I _hated_ being without them, but I couldn't face them. Not after what I'd done. I was angry, but I was also hurt and confused and absolutely ashamed. There's no excusing my behavior, alright? I know that. But I've apologized, I've made it right as best I can, and I'm here. I'm not running away again."

"How do you know that? Now that you're an Animagus, you could just run off into the woods and never be seen again. What's to stop you from doing just that?"

"I'm stopping me," Louis says fiercely. "Because I want to be here. This is my home. This is the only place I want to be. It's the only place that's full of people I love. And, for some reason, that includes you, you miserable twat."

Nick laughs. "Did you just…"

"What?" Louis asks flatly, her brain not having caught up with her mouth just yet.

"Did you just tell me you loved me… and then call me a twat?"

Louis' cheeks go dark immediately. "No."

"I think you did."

"I did not."

"You absolutely did."

"Stop it, no I didn't."

"So you don't love me?"

"I didn't say that."

"Well--" Nick huffs angrily. "What _did_ you say?"

"I do love you, alright! What I _don't_ know is whether or not you love me back!" Louis shouts. Her brain catches up to her mouth much faster this time, and she ducks her head. "I thought you'd hate me for sure."

"I did, for a while. But then I found myself missing you. I liked having you around." Nick chuckles softly. "I liked kissing you."

Louis' cheeks burn even more but she stays quiet.

"When you showed up with Fizzy and Lottie this morning, I… I didn't know what to think. I didn't even know you were back. I certainly never expected to find out on my doorstep."

"What about now?" Louis asks. "How do you feel about me now?"

"I dunno." Nick lets out a breath. "Reckon I might still be a bit angry with you."

"Makes sense," Louis mumbles.

"But I am glad you're back," Nick continues. "And as long as you promise not to destroy my house again, well, I reckon things could be alright."

"Yeah?" Louis asks hopefully, lifting her head to look at Nick. She's smiling.

"Yeah." Nick nods her head towards the kitchen. "Fancy a cuppa?"

"I'd love one," Louis replies.

Nick holds out her hand and Louis takes it gingerly, letting Nick be the one to lace their fingers together. They walk slowly to the kitchen and Louis reluctantly lets go of Nick's hand so she can set up the kettle for their tea. They both stay quiet as Nick fills up the kettle with water and turns on her stove. She pulls two mugs from the cupboard along with a jar of tea leaves, setting them near the kettle before she turns back to Louis.

This time Louis is the one to hold out her hand to Nick, offering a hesitant smile along with it. Nick crosses the kitchen floor and ignores Louis' outstretched hand in favor of taking Louis' face in her hands and kissing her instead.

"Don't run away again," she whispers breathlessly after they've broken apart.

"I won't," Louis promises, sealing it with another kiss.

"Good." Nick rests her forehead against Louis' and sighs happily. "I missed you."

Louis wraps her arms around Nick's waist and holds onto her tightly. "I missed you, too."

Nick kisses her again and they lose themselves in each other until the shrill whistle of the kettle pulls them apart. Louis laughs bashfully as Nick pours the water into their mugs, pressing the back of her hands against her cheeks to try and lessen the redness there.

"This might be a bit forward," Nick says as casually as she can while she brings the mugs back over to Louis. "But would you like to stay… with me, tonight?"

It's a lucky thing Louis' tea is still steeping, otherwise she might've done a spit take with piping hot tea. Nick's cheeks are a dark shade of pink but she's looking Louis right in the eye.

"I just… I think we have a lot more to talk about, y'know?"

"Yeah," Louis says, her voice a bit dreamy as she thinks about staying at Nick's. "I, umm, I'd love to."

"Yeah?" Nick smiles widely.

"I just… I should go home first." Louis clears her throat. "So they don't wonder what's happened."

"Right, yes." Nick nods. "Yes, good plan."

Louis snorts. "Good plan," she repeats, a little mockingly.

"Shut up," Nick replies as she brings her mug up to her lips. "Twat."

Louis smiles into her tea.

*

Louis is still smiling when she Apparates to her mum's house over an hour later, having been kissed quite thoroughly by Nick in the meantime. She looks up from her feet to see both Lottie and Fizzy sitting on the sofa in the living room, and she immediately tries to school her face to hide her happiness but it's too late.

"What happened??"

"Tell us everything!!"

"Did you make up??"

"Is she still angry with you??"

"Stop, please!" Louis laughs. "Where's Mum? I need to tell her something."

"In the kitchen," Fizzy says as she collapses onto the sofa again.

"Are you really not going to tell us how it went?" Lottie asks, making Louis pause before she passes through the doorway.

"I'll tell you everything tomorrow, I promise."

As Louis heads into the kitchen, she hears _tomorrow?!_ from both Lottie and Fizzy and the smile returns to her face. Her mum is indeed in the kitchen, standing on the far side near the sink with a basket full of vegetables. Louis comes up beside her and leans her head on Jay's shoulder, slipping her arm around Jay's waist for a sideways hug.

"You're back!" Jay says excitedly. "How'd it go?"

"Umm," Louis bites her bottom lip, this smile is getting to be ridiculous. "Kind of terrible, at first, but then… really good?"

Jay smiles warmly. "I'm happy to hear that, Lou. I'm sure that's quite the load off your shoulders."

"It really is," Louis agrees.

"I was just in the middle of washing these up for dinner, could you give me a hand?"

"Yeah, sure," Louis answers, dutifully turning on the water in the sink and accepting the vegetables that Jay hands over. "I have something to ask you, though."

"What is it?"

"Well," Louis takes a deep breath and tries not to blush. "Nick invited me back for dinner, actually."

"Oh? That's very nice of her."

"And, umm… to stay. The night."

Jay drops the cucumber she's holding and it rolls around on the countertop for a few seconds before she manages to catch it. Louis pauses with her hands under the faucet, waiting for her mum's reply.

"I see."

Louis sort of wishes she could melt into the floor at this very moment. They'd avoided the sex talk for so long, Louis thought for sure they'd never actually have to have it.

"Well, you are an adult," Jay says. "I suppose I can't really tell you no, can I?"

"Would you?" Louis asks. It's a serious question; she needs to know whether her mum really approves of this thing she's got going with Nick. It may not influence her one way or another, but her mum's opinion still matters a great deal to Louis.

"Of course not," Jay replies. She presses a kiss to Louis' cheek. "I want you to be happy, Lou. And if Nick makes you happy, then I'm over the moon about it."

Louis lets out a relieved breath and she smiles again. "Thanks, Mum."

"Just… y'know, be careful."

"Mum!"

"That's all I'm saying!" Jay holds up her hands and Louis laughs. "Once you've finished the vegetables, you can go."

"Thanks, Mum." Louis gently bumps her hip into Jay's. "Love you."

"Love you too, Lou." Jay snaps her fingers. "Oh, before I forget, a letter came for you earlier."

"A letter?" Louis asks. "From who?"

"It has a Hogwarts seal," Jay says, "that's all I know." She gestures behind her. "It's on the table over there."

Louis quickly dries her hands off with a towel and rushes over, ripping the envelope open and pulling the letter out. It's from Professor McGonagall, but it looks far more formal than any of the letters she's received before.

_Dear Miss Tomlinson,_

_As you know, I've held the position of Professor of Transfiguration for many years here at Hogwarts. In this time, I've seen many exceptional students come and go, and there have only been a select few I'd ever consider choosing as my replacement._

_Because of your dedication to the study of Transfiguration by becoming a registered Animagus, I would like to extend an offer to you. If you accept, you will spend one year at Hogwarts as my teaching assistant, wherein you will learn all that I have to teach you about not only the finer points of Transfiguration, but also what it means and takes to be a Hogwarts professor._

_After the year of training, you will take over my position of Professor of Transfiguration._

_I realize this is a rather important decision but in the interest of time, kindly reply with your answer by the 15th of August._

_Best,_

_Minerva McGonagall_

"What's it say, love?" Jay asks after several minutes go by without Louis saying a word. Louis turns back around to face her and nearly drops the letter entirely.

"It's from McGonagall…" Louis lets out a laugh and it comes out a bit hysterical. "She's… she's offering me a job."

"A job?" Jay asks, reaching out and taking the letter from Louis' hands. "What sort of--"

"Transfiguration professor." Louis laughs again. "Mum, I could teach at Hogwarts!"

"August 15th," Jay reads aloud. "That's in less than two weeks. How can she expect you to make such a decision in just two weeks?"

"Mum--"

"You only just came home," Jay goes on, speaking more to herself now. "And now you're going to go away again."

"Mum," Louis says softly. She takes McGonagall's letter out of her mum's hands and sets it down on the table. "I haven't decided anything, yet."

"I know, I know," Jay sniffs a little, "I'm being ridiculous."

"You're not, Mum." Louis hugs her tightly. "There's a lot to think about. I mean…" She lets go of Jay and laughs ruefully. "Could I even be a teacher?"

"Stop that," Jay replies immediately. "I won't have you doubting yourself. You could absolutely be a teacher. You've taught your sisters a hundred things a hundred different times. I just want you to think very carefully about this, alright?"

"I will, Mum. Don't worry."

"Good." Jay smiles. "Now, Nick's probably waiting for you so you'd best get a move on."

"Nick…" Louis says absentmindedly, and that's when it hits her. She's going to have to tell Nick about McGonagall's offer. She can't keep this a secret, not after everything they've been through.

Jay presses a kiss to Louis' cheek, not realizing she's accidentally sent her own daughter into a tailspin. "Have fun, my love. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you," Louis answers. She goes and picks up the letter, stuffing it back into the envelope and holding it against her chest before she Disapparates.

Nick gives a startled yell when Louis appears in her living room. Louis turns around on the spot to find Nick sitting in the same armchair as before with a book pressed against her chest.

"Scared me," she says breathlessly, laughing a little as she sets her book aside.

"Sorry," Louis replies.

"What's that you've got there?" Nick asks, leaning forward as she squints at the letter.

"It's… umm…" Louis sighs. "It's a job offer."

"Oh?" Nick says, her voice showing equal parts excitement and interest. "Where? What sort of job?"

"Hogwarts," Louis answers. "Transfiguration professor."

Nick's face falls. "Oh."

"Yeah."

"Are you going to take it?"

"I don't know." Louis looks down at the letter and sighs heavily. "I want to… but I don't want to leave Rosemoor."

"Well, you'd sort of have to, wouldn't you?"

"That's not the point," Louis says, sighing in frustration. "I only just came home. I want more time with my sisters, with my mum… with you."

Nick smiles at her, slightly sad. She reaches out towards Louis, pulling her close until Louis is curled up in Nick's lap. The kiss they share grounds Louis in a way she didn't know was possible, but it also makes the decision that much harder. She doesn't want to leave Nick.

"When do you have to decide?" Nick asks quietly.

"By the 15th." Louis knocks her head against Nick's and sighs again. "What do I do?"

"I don't know," Nick answers honestly. "But you don't have to decide right now."

Louis puts the letter aside and huffs out a laugh. "McGonagall really does have the worst timing."

"How about for tonight, we pretend this letter doesn't exist?" Nick suggests as she curls her hand around Louis'. "We'll just… be normal, for once."

Louis snickers. "What's that even mean?"

"I dunno," Nick replies with a laugh. "But we'll figure it out, won't we?"

"Yeah," Louis answers, smiling as she kisses Nick again.

"I do need you to get up, though," Nick says, laughing as Louis continues trying to kiss her. "You're awfully heavy."

"Shut up, I am not!"

"You are," Nick says, laughing harder now. Louis rolls her eyes and within seconds, Nick's got a lapful of fox. Louis puts her paws on Nick's chest and sticks her tongue out, licking the tip of Nick's nose just to make her laugh.

Afterwards, Louis curls up on Nick's lap, making sure that she's turned around the right way so she can see Nick's face.

"This is a bit strange," Nick says as she reaches for her book, putting her other hand under Louis' head. "But it's nice."

They stay in the armchair until it's pitch black outside and both of their stomachs are rumbling with hunger. Louis stays in her fox form while Nick makes dinner, darting around her feet and causing general mischief until Nick begs her to change back.

"This better?" Louis asks once she's back to normal, grinning widely.

Nick sighs in relief. "Much. I can't kiss you when you're a fox, you know."

"True," Louis says as she leans over and kisses Nick.

There's a noticeable shift in the atmosphere after dinner is over, and Louis starts getting a little nervous. She's never spent the night with anyone she's been romantically interested in, and as a result she doesn't really know what to expect.

"D'you want to go to bed?" Nick asks, casually enough.

"Y-Yeah?" Louis says, wincing when it comes out as a question rather than a true answer. But Nick just smiles.

"It's alright," she says, holding her hand out to Louis. "No funny business."

Louis' mouth twitches. "What if I want a bit of funny business?"

Nick rolls her eyes. "Alright. _Some_ funny business."

Louis takes Nick's hand and follows her upstairs, entering Nick's room for the first time. It's cozy, the bed takes up most of the room but there's also a chest of drawers with a bunch of little trinkets and gadgets littered across the top. Louis is drawn to them, inspecting them carefully with the tip of her finger as she marvels.

Nick comes up behind her and gently puts her hands on Louis' waist and her mouth to Louis' neck. Louis' eyes immediately close and she groans softly.

"Bed?" Nick whispers.

"Yeah," Louis says, far more sure than before.

Nick takes off her jeans but leaves her shirt on, and Louis follows suit before they both climb into Nick's bed. They're like magnets drawn together from that moment on, their bodies pressed close as their hands explore the new territory. Louis starts breathing heavily as they kiss, and before she knows what's happening she's lightheaded and dizzy.

"Wait," she gasps, rolling away from Nick and onto her back. Nick immediately stops and looks at Louis, presumably to ensure she hasn't hurt her in any way.

"What?" she asks, panting a little. Louis laughs softly and brushes her hair out of her eyes.

"It's just… a lot." There's something else on her mind, too. Even though she's been thinking about this for ages, practically _dreaming_ about being in this very spot, she can't get McGonagall's letter out of her mind.

Should this even be happening if there's a chance she's leaving Rosemoor in less than a month? It wouldn't be fair to either of them, but Louis is especially worried that Nick will think she's just trying to run away again.

"It's alright," Nick says. "Sorry, I got a little carried away."

Louis flushes a deep red. Nick's hand is on her waist now, but only moments ago it was slipping under the hem of her underwear. There's a thrum under Louis' skin that aches to have Nick's hands on her again, to have them be touching her with the sort of intent she's never felt before.

"It's not that," Louis replies. "It's…"

"The letter."

"I'm sorry," Louis says quickly.

"No, don't…" Nick sighs and gives Louis a gentle kiss. "Don't apologize."

"It's just… I want to do this," she says, gesturing between the two of them. "I _really_ do."

"So do I," Nick admits with a sheepish laugh.

"But… I don't know if we should. Since I might be leaving and all."

Nick lets out a long breath and rolls off of her side and onto her back, but she turns her head so she can keep looking at Louis. Normally, Louis would start to feel embarrassed by the weight of the look that Nick is giving her. But in the moment it feels perfect.

"D'you know what I was thinking during dinner?" Nick asks.

"What?"

"There's a village near Hogwarts, right?"

"Yeah, Hogsmeade."

"What if… we got a place there? You and me?" Nick's eyes are wide and shiny. "Maybe not this year, that's a bit soon, but… I dunno. We could--"

Louis crawls on top of Nick and kisses her until they're both breathless again. Louis clutches Nick's face even after they've stopped kissing, their mouths barely an inch apart.

"I think that's the best idea you've had all day."

"Is it?" Nick asks, her smile turning a bit wicked. "I bet I can top it."

*

Louis wakes up the following morning with the sun shining right into her face. She opens her eyes to see slightly unfamiliar surroundings and it takes a second for her to remember where she is. And when she spots a clock on the far wall of Nick's room, she discovers that it's not morning at all, it's nearly three in the afternoon.

She rolls over with a groan, pressing her face against Nick's shoulder as she curls up around her. Nick grunts a little but shifts so that they're cuddled up properly.

"Morning," Nick mumbles.

"Afternoon," Louis corrects. "Back to sleep."

"We've slept all day," Nick says, moving around a little despite Louis' petulant groaning.

"Somebody shouldn't have kept me up half the night," Louis says, keeping her eyes closed but smiling cheekily.

"I didn't hear any complaints last night," Nick says as she covers Louis' body with her own, pressing her mouth against Louis' neck.

"I was a bit preoccupied," Louis replies. Nick chuckles against her neck and without warning, drops all of her weight onto Louis. "Oi!"

"Sorry," Nick replies, trying not to laugh. "But I'm bloody tired!"

"You're the worst," Louis says as she pushes Nick off of her and scrambles to sit up. "If I go and make us some tea, will that help wake you up?"

"Absolutely."

"And after tea…" Louis lets her voice trail off as she straddles Nick's hips and wiggles her eyebrows suggestively. "More funny business?"

Nick grins widely. "I think you're onto something, Lou."

Louis smacks a kiss to Nick's lips before climbing off of her and pulling on her jeans from the night before. She purposefully wiggles her hips more than necessary, knowing full well Nick is watching her.

"Hurry back," Nick calls as Louis descends the stairs as quickly as she can.

Just as Louis finishes filling up the kettle with water, there's a knock at the door. She pauses for a moment, thinking she's misheard, but when it happens again she calls out for Nick.

"Someone's at the door!"

"Don't answer it!" Nick calls back.

"Why not?" Louis says, hearing Nick shuffling around upstairs. She heads for the door, mumbling to herself, "I'm closer, why wouldn't I answer it?"

She swings the door open and standing on the other side is a boy she's never seen before, but who looks rather scared to be seeing her instead of Nick. Louis grins.

This is going to be fun.

**Author's Note:**

> [my tumblr](http://www.imlouisaf.tumblr.com)


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